Star Wars Legacy Episode III - Revalations
by MAllan921
Summary: The Vorn threat grows in the galaxy. Lyssa Anota and Ayvan Ezen search for the source of the clone armies used by the Vorn in their attacks. Meanwhile, Obi-wan Shai, Nash Corino, and other Jedi search for Darth Syrik, who may have survived his duel with Obi-wan on Clenestine. As the New Republic seems on the verge of fragmenting once again, new allies appear to help the Jedi.


Legacy : Episode III

Revalations

Over three hundred years has passed since the days of Luke Skywalker and end of the Great War…

Tatooine.

From space, most of the surface of the tan and rust colored planet was clearly visible. Scant cloud cover stretched over a few regions near the equator and closer to the northern pole. Two of Tatooine's three moons were visible from the view of a large freighter inbound to the planet. From that distance most spacefaring traffic was still invisible. A light freighter raced up into space far to the west, shooting into hyperspace. Three small meteors raced towards the planet in succession, screaming down in fiery trails towards the Dune Sea. The freighter, nearing one of the major space traffic lanes, queued up in the sky a few hundred kilometers behind another starliner. The many starships and freighters traveling to and from the desert planet became more visible the closer the ships got to the surface.

The atmosphere below was calm for most regions of the planet. The twin suns burned intensely over the daylight side of the desert world. Life on Tatooine was as it had been for centuries; a daily trudge to survive and withstand the grueling heat of the arid environment. If it weren't for the cold of night and the vaporators that could capitalize on harvesting atmospheric moisture, mostly from evening chills, there would be no humanoid life on the planet. Native species like Tuskens and Jawas would probably survive as they had evolved to survive on the hostile world, but certainly alien life, which included humanoids, would not fare well.

One humanoid, pacing through the bright almost white desert sand, was accustomed to the midday suns. Wearing frayed brown and white robes, her feet found their place in the soft desert, with a tall metalwork staff at her right side. She knew how to walk in the desert, how to walk along the tops of the dunes and avoid falling into their soft sides that made traversing them difficult and sometime perilous. In her long life she had visited countless worlds, seen many more hospitable and inviting planets, but Tatooine was in her blood. It was in her family's blood. She felt at home there like no other place, despite its inhospitable and rugged nature.

She had passed Kenobi's home almost two days earlier, having stopped there to pay her respects before venturing out into the Dune Sea. Many a native would say it's foolish for a lone person to venture out into the Dune Sea alone; that it was suicide. But she had done it before. And she needed answers. By focusing on survival and the terrain around her she could slip away from the other demands the universe placed on her mind. She could find clarity in the desert for some reason like no other place.

A day earlier she had killed a krensyl, a small reptile about a meter in length. She cooked it on an open flame and had it for dinner. She slept beneath the stars in the cool of night near the flame of her camp. With nothing around to burn, sleeping with the open fire was relatively safe.

And she had the force to warn her, even in sleep, of any possible threats.

The following day she had helped a caravan of settlers. The migrants, humanoids and a few Weequay, had been stopped when two of their five eopie lost their loads. The pilgrims found themselves surprised to find an old woman walking through the desert, not to mention one with a good disposition to help them. With the eopie reloaded, the migrant caravan continued towards their intended destination of Anchorhead. The old humanoid woman continued into the open desert.

It was on her third day that she noticed them. A black thin being in the distance, standing in the blazing daylight on a distant off-white dune. The black form didn't try to hide. In fact, it seemed like it had intentionally showed itself, possibly to taunt her.

She stared for a while at the dark form from behind her darkened goggles. Strands of her white and blonde hair fluttered out from beneath her cloak in the desert wind as her eyes remained fixed on the black humanoid being. She knew what it was from what other Jedi had told her, but she had yet to see one in person. Even though she knew it was quite dangerous, she found herself wanting to get a closer look at it – to see it for herself.

But she knew why it was there and why it remained distant. It was taunting her. And she could sense there were others.

She continued, her strong thin legs pushing her away and further into the desert.

She couldn't get distracted.

A few hours later she saw it again. It was behind her, following her at a few miles distance. Let it come closer, she thought. She continued walking on with her staff. She also sensed another far to her right, then later saw it standing on a faraway dune. It too stared at her.

A faint howl filled her ears. At once she tensed up and spun around. Her aged eyes went wide behind her dark goggles at the sight of a massive sandstorm rushing towards her. The sands reached high into the stratosphere and quickly spread to cover the horizon. It was coming very fast!

No time!

The woman kneeled, exerting her will through the force as the wall of sand blasted past her. She had managed to extend a protective field around her, a bubble of outward push, allowing the fierce wind and sand to tear past her without inflicting any damage. Without the force, she surely would have been seriously injured – or worse.

With the sandstorm's brunt force behind her, the twin suns were obscured in a ubiquitous amber haze. Dust still filled the air, isolating the old woman in a veil of light brown light. Visibility to the outside world was non-existent.

And then she sensed it in there with her. The old woman brushed off the sand from her robes. She then turned to see a shadow in the haze. One hand still on her staff, she watched as the two-meter-tall form take shape. It was a silhouette at first. The outline of robes became apparent, as did its broad sharp demonic ears. It had black robes and black and dark grey skin. A pair of serpent-like amber eyes stared out at the old woman from the dark from.

"Lady Skywalker." The demonic form said.

Victoria Skywalker raised her goggles to look on the dark demonic form with her own blue eyes.

"Darth Edos." Victoria greeted him in kind.

"So, you know who I am." Edos noted.

"It took me longer than I liked to learn your name." Victoria replied.

"You are older than I presumed." Edos grinned. "Such an inhospitable climate for an aged woman to travel alone."

"Tatooine is my home. And the force is my ally." Victoria countered. "Still, I get the sense that you're here to intimidate me, yet you are not really here are you?"

"Yes, a simple enough observation." Edos replied coldly.

"Why are you standing before me then? You've come to give me an ultimatum? To try and frighten me?"

"I know you are a sensible woman, Lady Skywalker. Perhaps we can arrive at some kind of agreement."

"I doubt that but let's hear it."

Edos grinned again, amused by Victoria's self-confidence and bravery.

"You know of the Vorn but I'm not sure if you know what we're after." Edos explained. "Control. Control over all those who would use the force."

"Control is an illusion." Victoria countered.

"Yes, but nonetheless you Jedi continue to maintain dogmatic rules as a means of control. And, like us, you seek to control those who have been given this…. magnificent gift."

"Is it really a gift? Or just an ability some somehow manage to possess? I know some who wouldn't see it as a gift. That they would prefer to be closed off from the ability to use the force."

"That is inconsequential." Edos replied. "Access to the force is something that needs to be controlled. You understand this as well. The boy, Obi-wan Shai. You don't trust him because he exists outside of your rule. Your domain."

"Obi-wan is a free being. We did not accept him as a Jedi but he is free to do as he pleases."

"Is he really?" Edos sneered. "He is very powerful! He and Ezen's son killed three of my warriors on Agara Prime. And he is not alone. I sense others out in the universe as strong as he is."

"Like Syrik? He was your apprentice, wasn't he?" Victoria bit back.

"Your nephew?" Edos continued to grin. "He has that same Skywalker blood. He came to me hungry for revenge. Hungry for power. Obi-wan Shai bested him as well."

"Obi-wan doesn't think he's dead. Has he returned to you?"

Edos allowed himself a laugh. "I don't know either way. His loss is unfortunate, but he isn't irreplaceable in my army."

Victoria held her gaze on Edos but she could sense figures moving in the sandstorm haze around her, obscured behind the sienna veil. Three of them. The dark machines.

"So, you have an offer?" Victoria noted, wanting to get to the point.

"Yes." Edos nodded. "You and all your Jedi can join me where we can maintain control over the force. Together."

"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" Victoria pressed. "You not only seek dominion over any who can utilize the force. You see it as an evolutionary advantage. That you use that power to subjectify all other beings."

"Fate has given us this power for a reason, Skywalker." Edos replied. "Your ancestors understood this. Vader. Kylo Ren. Darius Skywalker."

"My brother let power corrupt him. He did not start out as the man you describe." Victoria argued.

"Yet he understood in the end." Edos countered. "And how fortunate Darius had, how shall we say, followed in some of the habits of his ancestors. Ben Solo for example." Edos' white serrated grin grew wide in its satisfaction.

Victoria only stared back at him blankly.

"I'm going to have to decline. I'm certain I speak for the other Jedi Orders as well."

"You're making a grave mistake." Edos' tone grew very dark. "I will come for you. I will come for your children. And I will kill them all. Anyone who is not Vorn or part of our collective will perish."

The three Sith drones stepped out of the haze. Two were at Victoria's left and one at her right. Up close they looked ominous yet frail. Thin battledroid like forms in ebony black with a kind of artificial metal musculature. They all had a helmet and face similar to Vader's mask, only narrower with sharp angles. And reflective blackish red eyes. Each also had a deactivated lightsaber in their right hands.

Edos kept his cold eyes on Victoria Skywalker. "This is your last chance."

Victoria didn't answer. She instead moved her right hand and pulled out her own lightsaber. She held the handle up to Edos so he could get a good look. It had a black and silver ringed midsection, a copper emitter matrix, and a wider round brushed silver blade projector.

It was Luke Skywalker's lightsaber – the one he had defeated Darth Vader with. Its green blade shrieked to life in her hand.

The red blades of the Sith drones energized. They all attacked her at once.

Victoria jumped at the nearest one at her right, batting its red blade away, spinning from a return cut, to chop its head off from the back in a reverse slash from her green blade. Its headless body managed another strike that Victoria easily parried before she cut it in half at the torso.

The Sith drones offered no quarter and moved at Jedi speed. Victoria was able to outmaneuver them through foresight in the force. She exchanged a group of strikes with another drone, shoved it back thorough the force, parried the other drone, cut its hands off, and grabbed its red saber before it could hit the ground. She threw the saber into the drone she had shoved back, lancing it through the chest with the red blade of light. The red blade remained in the chest of the staggering Sith drone as Victoria fought, and quickly cut to pieces the other drone. She then marched towards the impaled drone. She extended her left hand towards the drone, pulling the red saber from its chest with the force. The red blade flew into her left hand where she chopped the last drone to slag with both sabers.

She looked around at the destroyed drones. Content that they were finished she shut down both lightsabers. Her head turned to look again at Edos. The black Vorn seemed to enjoy the display.

"Your toys are pathetic." Victoria noted back flatly. She held up the Sith drone's saber, then released it to keep it floating in the air next to her. Through the force she grabbed the sabers of the other two drones and positioned them in the air next to the first. Victoria again activated her green lightsaber. In a backhand slash she cut through the handles of all three lightsabers. They exploded into slag and fell to the sand as junk. Her green saber blade shinked back into its handle again.

"We will not yield." Victoria noted to Edos with deadly calm.

Edos smiled again. He then took a step back and vanished from sight.

Victoria watched him fade and stepped back. She had heard of force projection but had never witnessed it. It was a remarkable sight, yet she kept a blank expression on her aged face. She turned away from where Edos' image had stood, hooking her lightsaber back on her belt. She retrieved her staff with the force and walked away, raising her left wrist to her mouth.

"Skywalker here. It's over. I'm ready for pickup." She spoke into the wrist com, treading out into the sienna haze.

It was late at night. The area around Docking Bay 7 at Mos Eisley was quiet, as it was near the outer perimeter of the busy desert metropolis. Pedestrian traffic in the winding walkways was further reduced by a security perimeter of Republic troopers. Wearing typical tan plate armor, the troopers stood at the access pathways to the docking bay, blaster rifles slung over their chests. The troopers at the outer perimeter eyed the few beings that walked by from behind the amber visors of their helmets.

A lone Republic officer hurried past the guards. He flashed his scan docs to the troopers, identifying himself as a commissioned Republic officer, a lieutenant. They waived him through, as they had been expecting him.

Inside the docking bay waited a YT-750 transport. Like other modern YT designs, the segmented cockpit was at the front of the transport rather than offset. A bulky contoured midsection followed, with cylindrical cocking collar ports on either side of the vessel halfway down the fuselage. A turbolaser cannon rested on top and below the midsection with support cannons on the sides above the docking collar ports. A large cluster of five drum shaped engines extended from the back.

The lieutenant hurried past more armored republic troopers standing watch inside the circular dirt floor of the hangar. The officer hurried up a ramp extended down from the port side of the transport. An NCO in a flight uniform greeted him at the top of the ramp, again checking his scandoc.

"Welcome aboard, sir." The NCO grinned, handing back the transparent plastic card. "Main seating is one compartment forward."

"Thank you, Sergeant." Nash Corino replied, walking into the ship and moving towards the main cabin.

Main seating was very similar to higher end civilian transportation; higher end anyway for the Outer Rim in that the seats and cabin were military clean. Function was more part of design than luxury.

A hail went out audibly in the docking bay as well as in the com system. Nash looked outside to see the security contingent of troopers walking back towards the ship. The sounds of boots clanked in the corridor behind him; troopers loading back up. The repulsors powered up. The pilots clicked switches and adjusted control settings in the pod shaped cockpit.

"Good to go!" the NCO crew chief could be heard shouting before the whine of the boarding ramp arms was heard faintly through the bulkheads.

The YT-750 lifted off, rising out of the docking bay ring to float past the dark sandstone towers around it. Nash kept his attention outside his window, noting that the amber lights dotting Mos Eisley seemed to give the crime-filled city an almost quaint appearance. The city at night, with its desert sandstone architecture, accented with junk, old speeders, and a massive crashed freighter at the center of town, seemed too quiet from the view outside Nash's transport.

In a few moments the nose of the transport turned to the sky. The ship shot forward into the night sky and, in turn, out into space. Soon after the stars beyond stretched into long glowing horizontal rows of light as the ship jumped into hyperspace.

Nash stood up from the padded passenger chair and headed to the lavatory. It was odd seeing the two dozen or so chairs in the rows around him empty. Typically, the Republic didn't waste a transport on a trip like this for a single person. He knew the nature of the trip was important and, thus, looking as best he could was also an issue.

The lavatory itself was decent in size, tall enough for a Wookie to use comfortably. That thought gave him an odd pause and he shook his head to clear the thought. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. The uniform and markings had been borrowed from the Republic duty station at Mos Eisley. The request for his presence at the meeting had been unexpected and abrupt. He still only had the clothes he had worn during the battle at Agara Prime.

The uniform looked good enough, he hoped, with his markings in the right place on the left side of his chest. He had used a droid service for a quick haircut, shortening the sides of his blonde hair a bit more than the top, then conditioning the rest to comb it down slick to his head. It wasn't a look he necessarily liked, but it was presentable and regulation. Confident that he looked okay, he brushed his teeth. Once finished with brushing he washed his face a little again and took a good long look at himself in the mirror.

The galaxy had changed a bit over the last few months. Nash could tell he had changed a little with it. He dried off his hands and left the lavatory to return to his seat.

On the way out he bumped into the NCO crew chief.

"We should be at the _Gryphon_ shortly, sir." The chief noted to Nash as they neared each other in the narrow corridor.

"How do I look?" Nash asked the chief.

"Presentable." The chief answered honestly.

"I'd imagine there's some big brass there if they sent you all out to the Outer Rim to pick me up." Nash observed.

"The _Gryphon_ was out here already, yes, but I think a lot of those guys rushed out here from New Alderaan and Corellia to meet up with the _Gryphon_." The chief observed. "Lots of busy busy people on our ship."

"Great!" Nash sighed.

"You'll do fine, sir." The chief note. "You might want to get back to your seat, sir. We should be arriving soon."

"Thanks Chief!" Nash nodded gratefully, moving forward to follow his advice.

Nash made his way back to his seat, settling into the cream-colored leather padded chair. The glowing streaking corridor of hyperspace continued to flow by outside his window. He had a drink and relaxed for a few moments before the hyperspace corridor vanished, settling into normal space. From his vantage point he couldn't see any capital ships right away. It wasn't until an X-wing with closed s-foils pulled up alongside of the transport that he first felt the fleet's presence.

The transport turned for approach, finally allowing himself a view of the _Gryphon_. It was a massive Mon Calamari battlecruiser, like _Home One_ or the _Raddus_ before it. Beyond the _Gryphon_ to its starboard flank was the Valorum Class Destroyer, the _Antilles, _one of the vessels that had fought recently at Agara Prime against the Vorn. From the sight of it, Nash knew her commander, Captain Lyghtsun, would be present. Nash noticed a few more fighters of the defense patrol flying casually around the two ships, which he guessed were operating somewhere in open space away from any planets. Nash lost sight of the _Gryphon_ for a while until he felt the gentle whump from the YT-750 crossing through the white glow of a hangar forcefield.

Nash looked out his window, seeing the sudden change from the view of eternal space to the inside of a large and very busy hangar bay. The contrast of the hangar's bright lights took a moment for his eyes to adjust to. He saw a row of six blue A-wings with two X-wings and another YT-750 parked behind. His transport settled quickly. In a routine manner, Nash picked up his bag and headed out of the ship, thanking the crew chief again on his way out.

The hangar was alive and clanging with activity. Ships were refueled or repaired. Droids and loaders hurried about the black hangar deck.

"Lieutenant Corino?" a dark brown female officer greeted him at the bottom of the YT-750's ramp.

"Present." Nash stood before her and saluted.

"I'm Lieutenant Shore." The officer saluted in kind. "Please follow me."

Nash followed Shore through the busy hangar and out into a white framed corridor. They entered a turbolift car and headed up.

"Looks like you all are gearing up for battle." Nash remarked indirectly to Shore.

"It's an interesting turn of events to say the least, Lieutenant Corino." She replied.

The lift stopped and the doors hissed open.

"This way please." She led him down another corridor. They turned into a small room which turned out to be a vestibule chamber with two padded benches along the wall.

"You can set your things here." Shore gestured to one of the benches. "They're waiting inside for you."

Nash set his bags down, swallowing silently. He had figured he'd get a few minutes to gather his thoughts before the meeting, not rushed right into it. It was supposed to be just a standard questioning session but given the gravity of recent events he couldn't help but feel like it was something far more serious.

"Thank you." Nash said to Shore as he set his bag down.

The door to the inner chamber hissed open allowing Nash to enter. The inside felt as he expected, with a sparsely furnished room set up much like military tribunal. There was a long desk at the back with three beings sitting behind it. A smaller desk with two empty chairs was set across from the tribunal desk. Three beings sat behind the main table; a Mon Calamari at the center with a male and a female humanoid flanking him, all in Republic uniforms with high-raking plates on their chests. Two droids also stood in the room as did two Navy guards with wide brimmed white helmets.

"Lieutenant Corino." the Mon Calamari at the center spoke, gesturing to the small white table across from him.

"Thank you Admiral Styren." Nash replied, taking the seat. He knew his name, as he did the other two. The male was General Tan Matheren, a human Corellian in his early forties. The white haired female Therien was Admiral Janice Lyghtsun, commander of the _Antilles._

"RV-3X. Please conduct a security scan of the room." Styren ordered. "Guards and RT4, you are dismissed. I would remind everyone that this is a high security meeting. All recording devices are prohibited and all information of what you may have seen here is classified."

The guards and the second droid filed out of the chamber. The droid, RV-3X, completed its security scan. "Scan complete. No security issues detected."

"Thank you RV." Matheren noted as the droid exited the room.

The door hissed shut, leaving the three senior officers alone to face down Nash. A few seconds of silence passed.

"Lieutenant Corino. I would like to thank you for meeting us here on such short notice." Styren noted in a crisp voice.

"Thank you, Admiral." Nash replied in kind.

"I assume you know why you were summoned to this meeting? Why we're meeting out here on a command vessel in the middle of nowhere under strict security?"

"Yes sir." Nash replied. "The Vorn."

"The Vorn, yes." Matheren noted. "And the appearance of this Sith, Darth Syrik, and the incidents both on Clenestine and Agara Prime."

"Your reports are well detailed." Lyghtsun added. "But given your personal involvement in these matters and your assignment with the Jedi we wanted your first-hand account of these events to some degree."

"Yes, Admiral." Nash replied to her.

"Let's start with your observations on the Battle of Agara Prime." Styren began. "You were flying air cover the whole time?"

"Yes sir."

"Was that intentional? Did the Jedi assign you to that post? It was on the Jedi Master Ayvan Ezen's ship was it not?" Matheren asked.

"No, I believe that's just how it worked out, sir." Nash explained. "It was too dangerous to land and risk losing the ship. Given the urgency Master Ezen expressed on our way to Agramyek and the threat they faced, we agreed it was best for me to do a touch and go landing to drop them off."

"You haven't seen a Vorn up close then?" Lyghtsun pressed.

"No, ma'am." Nash replied. "I saw an arm from the one Master Ezen had defeated on Coruscant. And sensor footage from Agramyek. King Dakar, of course, expelled us and most of the New Republic forces I believe."

"That is correct." Matheren confirmed. "This is, apparently, from his falling out of favor with the Jedi."

Nash looked at the young brown haired, neatly bearded General. There was an interesting tone in his voice. He seemed soured on the Jedi.

"Agara's potential withdrawal from the system is yet another setback for the Republic." Lyghtsun seemed to have the same hint of annoyance in her tone as Matheren. "We have delegates with Dakar trying to mend our relationship with his planet. Did you get any sense that there was a potential rift growing between the Jedi and Ukare or Dakar?"

Nash looked at both Matheren and Lyghtsun curiously. "Begging your pardons, but the Republic and the Trade Federation came to Agara's rescue. Why would they threaten to withdraw from the Republic?"

"Lieutenant Corino. I will remind you that we are asking the questions here?" Styren growled.

Nash gulped. "Yes sir. My apologies."

"Understandable." Styren replied. "It's been a tense time of late. And, yes, Agara and other systems have threatened to pull away from the Republic. There's a growing emphasis on isolation in some parts of the galaxy."

"Dakar and his father amassed quite an army." Lyghtsun added. "If a few of his capital ships had been in the area he might not have needed assistance. And this army that the Vorn amassed. Based on the reports we've seen it's not their army. They purchased it in a sense, using battledroids and clones from an unknown source."

"The Jedi are looking into discovering that source." Nash noted.

"As are we." Matheren replied flatly. The general seemed to stare at Nash for a while. "Lieutenant, you must understand that even three hundred years after the defeat of the Empire that the galaxy under the New Republic is still a tenuous union. It's not like it was before Sidious' rise to power. It may never go back to that state. And lots of systems distrust the Jedi."

"Respectfully, sirs, I've found the Jedi to be the defenders of justice and the noble people of legend people believe them to be. No, they're not perfect but they can hold the galaxy together in ways military might alone cannot."

"Careful how you use your words, Lieutenant." Matheren replied calmly. "And please keep an open mind about what is being said here. We're not out to persecute the Jedi or disparage them. We are merely stating facts."

"Even the Jedi are not eager to take up the mantle of their former role in the Republic." Styren grumbled. "The Jedi and Republic of old once worked hand and hand. Now, I sense, distrust exits between the two. The Jedi seemed more worried about protecting their own these days over their relationship with the Republic."

"I can't speak for the Jedi." Nash replied. "But I can understand the possible reasoning. They trusted the Republic before the Empire, and that system nearly wiped them out and made the Jedi extinct."

"Certainly with no small help of one of their own." Matheren replied quickly back. "Palpatine maneuvered Anakin Skywalker to turn against them. The Republic, as it exists now, will not allow itself to be manipulated that way again. And it is our job, as the military, to see to it that doesn't happen. Not everyone sees the Jedi as saviors, Lieutenant. And we cannot rely on others to save us again. Our job is to protect the Republic, plain and simple."

"Gentlemen," Lyghtsun grinned. "This is a matter of policy, left to politicians. The Republic Military is not the governing entity. Let's focus on what is relevant in this situation. The Vorn. Lieutenant, do you get a sense of the immediate goals of the Vorn?"

"Yes, I do." Nash nodded with a serious expression. "War. From my observation they are not only waging war, but they might potentially leverage systems in the Republic against one another."

"A typical tactic. We've seen evidence of this ourselves, yes." Matheren added.

"While we truly appreciate our relationship with the Jedi, we must also prepare to fight without them." Styren noted. "What is the best course of action we as the New Republic Military can take?"

"Prepare." Nash answered bluntly. "It's possible the Vorn may focus on the Jedi, and in that regard, we should look for a blind spot we can exploit in attacking them. But I would certainly say prepare. Based on what I saw in the _Gryphon's _hangar bay and what I noticed on the way in I'd say those preparations are already underway?"

Lyghtsun stared at Nash for a moment before answering.

"That they are, Lieutenant." She answered.

The _Oberon_ soared through the swirling blue-white light corridor of hyperspace. Its captain, Jedi Master Lyssa Anota, sat in the left pilot seat quietly. Her head rested braced against her left arm as she stared blankly out at the hyperspace conduit. The seemingly random vortex of glowing patterns was hypnotizing. She liked the tranquility of the view. The sight of it helped to clear her thoughts.

Ayvan Ezen entered the cockpit quietly. He looked down at Lyssa and quickly took note of her mood. He settled into the copilot seat quietly and looked at her silently for a moment.

"We're not too far out from Kamino." Ayvan finally broke the silence.

Lyssa turned to look at the dark brown Jedi, looking into his ruby red eyes.

"You think there will be any trouble on this trip?" Ayvan asked. "The Kaminoans aren't always welcoming to outsiders."

"They were quite kind in their communique." Lyssa spoke.

Ayvan stared at her for a bit longer. "You're thinking about Nemic again."

"Goes without saying I suppose." Lyssa replied blandly. "We're taught to detach ourselves from such things. Or at least try to."

"No one will fault you for feeling the way you do, Lyssa." Avyan responded kindly. "The Jedi of old preached that almost to the point of apathy. Not having feelings is akin to not caring."

"That's the 'new' philosophy, yes?" Lyssa said, almost in a mocking tone. "Still, there's something to be said for the old ways."

Ayvan looked over the control surface of the copilot station, really as a distraction from Lyssa. He was cautious with his thoughts. He didn't want to seem condescending but at the same time he could see she was beating herself up too much inside.

"The Jedi of old nearly became extinct because of the old ways." Ayvan noted.

"Interesting. Master Skywalker told me something similar recently. In a similar line of conversation." Lyssa turned her head and smirked at Ayvan. "Did she put you up to this?"

"Lady Skywalker is very wise." Ayvan answered back. "Nemic knew what our life entailed when he became a Jedi."

"We're all brought in as children." Lyssa argued.

"Most of us are." Ayvan countered.

"With some exceptions." She clarified.

"We're given the opportunity to leave before becoming padawans."

"An option not seriously encouraged." Lyssa replied. "The Jedi thrive in numbers. Honestly, have you ever known a youngling who decided not to become an apprentice?"

Ayvan allowed himself time for thought before answering. "No."

Lyssa didn't respond immediately. A moment of silence lingered between the two for a while, accented only by a few faint beeps from an instrument panel at the back of the cockpit.

"You know she asked me to take on a new apprentice already?" Lyssa broke the silence.

"Yeah." Ayvan answered plainly.

"Did she ask you to talk to me about it?"

"No. I'm just genuinely concerned for how you feel." Ayvan looked at her, nodding with a slight grin. "What happened to Nemic isn't easy, but he's not dead."

"No. Instead he's frozen in stasis on Hoth." Lyssa grumbled.

"But alive! And with a shot at recovering."

"But it's my fault!" Lyssa bit back. "If I had killed Dakar. If I had been detached and not allowed my feelings to get in the way."

"We can do everything right, Lyssa, and still fail." Ayvan replied to her with genuine warmth.

She stared at him for a while before nodding in agreement.

"You're tough on yourself because you think you allowed yourself to feel too much or too little." Ayvan went on. "You worry because you think your emotions are a liability to you as a Jedi. Lyssa, you are who you are. How you feel defines you." Ayvan allowed himself a deep breath as he took a quick glance of the swirling corridor of hyperspace ahead. "I would be more worried of the Jedi who doesn't feel anything."

"Thank you." Lyssa grasped his hand warmly for a moment in friendship.

Lyssa turned her attention for a moment to the cockpit instruments. They weren't too far out from their destination.

"Here we are." She noted, pushing forward on the hyperdrive controls.

The vortex of hyperspace changed to a shrinking field of starlines before the clouded half-shadowed planet of Kamino shot up into their view. All three moons of the planet were visible. White clouds stretched across the water planet's blue surface, with lightning visible in the lower hemisphere on the left on approach. A swirling hurricane could be seen at the top of the planet, thankfully far from where they'd be landing at Tipoca City.

The _Oberon _raced down into the atmosphere, soaring through heavy storm clouds. Rain streaked across the segmented cockpit canopy.

"It should be clear ahead at Tipoca City. Instruments say clear sunny skies." Lyssa noted.

"That's comforting. I've been here once before and it was horrible. Got soaked from head to toe."

"No sense waiting for the rain to end because it won't." Lyssa grinned.

As forward instruments noted, the sky ahead grew calm. The _Oberon_ shot through a large storm cloud and into the clear bright of day. The massive storm was a wall of dark clouds behind them. The massive metal panel city, conical spires and disc shaped domes, glimmered in the sunlight ahead.

The _Oberon _was given clearance to land. It swooped out over the city, turning over a circular pad to levitate slowly down on its repulsors.

Lyssa and Ayvan got up from the cockpit as they landed. The walked to the back of the ship, through the main lounge where Lyssa's droid, Em, waited.

"Ready to go, Em?" Lyssa noted to the powder blue protocol droid as they neared.

"Yes, Master Anota." The droid's metallic voice replied. It fell in line next to Ayvan as they walked out.

Ayvan couldn't help but eye the light blue droid. It looked a lot like a 3PO unit, only with a different design to the head. The eyes were narrower and chrome in appearance. The painted surface had a porcelain quality to it. It was strange to think that this same droid was owned by Alyn Rykane, founder of the Rykane Order.

The group walked down the _Oberon's _ramp and out onto the brushed silver plate of the landing circle deck. Despite its metal appearance it was surprising how easy it was to walk on the metal surface. It had been designed to allow for no-slip traction even though it was smooth and slick in appearance. A short walk over a ramp led them to a pair of tall parting glass doors.

A tall male Kaminoan approached to greet them. Ayvan had met a Kaminoan before but their height and extremely thin and frail appearance was still striking.

"I am Teren Elis." The Kaminoan greeted them. "Welcome to Tipoca City."

"Thank you Teren." Lyssa bowed with Ayvan respectfully. "I am Jedi Master Lyssa Anota. This is Master Ayvan Ezen and our droid Em."

"Welcome." Teren repeated. "Please follow me."

The group was led into a small circular chamber where three floating chairs waited.

"Please sit. The Director will be with you shortly." Teren noted before walking with a slow grace out of a nearby doorway.

The group sat. They didn't have to wait long as an iris door opened, allowing a tall female Kaminoan to walk inside. She had all the grace typical of her species but still a little more. Her large black almond shaped eyes blinked as she looked on the group.

"Greetings. I am Taun We, director of this facility." She said in a singing tone.

"Alyssa Anota of the Skywalker Order. This is Ayvan Ezen of the Ezen Order and my protocol droid Em." Lyssa introduced them.

"Your communique said you were interested in our expertise in cloning technology?" Taun We asked. "As you know, Kamino has not practiced commercial cloning in over three hundred years. Not since the Empire stole our technology and banned us from the practice."

"We understand you still are capable of it on a small level." Lyssa replied.

"We maintain a small domestic clone force for protection. Aside from that we no longer maintain large scale cloning." Taun We noted, her tone seemingly a bit defensive.

"We're not here to scrutinize your operations, Director." Ayvan added respectfully. "There was a large-scale offensive in the Agara System and a very large clone army was used. We know they weren't made here but we wanted to see if you can help us identify who made these clones."

"We have samples here of their DNA." Lyssa said, pulling out a small metal vial container from a pouch on her belt. She extended them to Taun We, who reached out gracefully to accept the vial container.

"As members of the Republic we are certainly glad to help." Taun We noted. She depressed a button on her floating chair.

A thin floating droid appeared from the door to hover over to Taun We. Cable like arms extended from the floating droid as Taun We handed the vial container over to the droid.

"Take these to the lab for analysis. Place them under my personal security protocol. I will be along shortly to begin analysis." Taun We instructed the droid.

The droid beeped and chattered electrically briefly before floating away with the specimen container.

Taun We returned her attention to the Jedi and the droid.

"The analysis may take some time to complete." Taun We noted. "Until then, you are most welcome to stay in our guest quarters."

"That would be most appreciated, Director." Lyssa nodded.

"Perhaps we can give you a tour of our facilities." Taun We added as they all stood. "After the Empire banned us from cloning, we adapted our technology to replication of living organs and tissue for medical use. It's been quite a profitable enterprise, not to mention the intangible benefit of helping living beings."

"That would be nice, yes." Ayvan stated.

"Please follow me." Taun We led them out of the chamber, out into the spotless white and glass corridors of the facility to lead them to their chambers.

Lothal. Most of the planet was agrarian. There were few cities on the farm world aside from the metropolis of Capital City. The town of Sandis Plain was a trade outpost, where farmers would bring their crops via grav pallet convoys to the local starport to load onto large freighters headed offworld. There was a mercantile exchange tower, where market prices for grains and livestock were determined against regional values. A large antennae tower at the outskirts of town maintained communication lines offworld to other systems throughout the outer rim and into the inner core. Several freighters were medium in size, many elongated shell-back haulers common throughout the galaxy. A few large freighters that carried cargo to the inner systems were parked near the center of the spaceport, near large support structures that could handle their massive forms.

Two Jedi walked near the outer edge of the spaceport, in a sector reserved for light transport craft. Their ship, a Sienar Lambda derivative T-9 shuttle, waited on a landing pad bordered in a dashed white square painted on the duracrete spaceport deck. Ahead of them marched a humanoid in standard clothing, with a brown leather jacket and blue slacks, with his hands bound ahead of him in binders. The Jedi, a humanoid apprentice named Noah Heldig and a Nikto master named Gran Fortissal, walked behind their prisoner, nudging him forward to keep his pace from slowing.

"I still don't see why you can't let the authorities here on Lothal handle this." the humanoid prisoner, Jan Edick, complained to the Jedi as they neared their shuttle.

"You're wanted for illegal market manipulation on Coruscant." Fortissal noted sternly. "The judiciary on Lothal has decided to defer you to Coruscant's jurisdiction, as your crimes originated there."

"If you were counting on Lothal justice to be more lenient you were mistaken." Heldig added. "Your actions led to the deaths of two clerks here."

"From organized criminals that were targeting me!" Edick complained. "Where do you think you'll find more gangsters? Lothal or Coruscant?"

"You will be protected as any…." Fortissal began, suddenly taking note of a disturbance in the force.

"Did you sense that?" Heldig noted cautiously, pulling out his lightsaber handle from his belt.

Fortissal acted in kind, retrieving his saber handle from where it was fastened at his side.

"What?" Edick demanded, suddenly scared by the tension the Jedi were suddenly showing.

A blur of black passed by, along with the shriek of a red lightsaber blade.

Two Sith drones appeared, each with a red lightsaber blade. Instantly they were in combat with the Jedi. Gran's blue blade feverishly defended from the relentless Sith drone's attack. The other drone paired off with his apprentice Heldig in a separate duel. Heldig's blue blade angled high left, slashed right, and deflected a high strike before he backflipped from a low sweep of the drone's glowing red blade.

Gran ducked a high swing meant for his head, angled the drone's blade away high over his shoulders, then slashed for its shoulder. His blue blade squelched off the black drone's armor plated shoulder, yet the machine kept up its furious defense. Gran's blue blade was blocked in front of the drone's chest, then again in a high crack. The red blade slashed back in a reverse slice, cutting deep into the Nikto Jedi Master's chest. Gran toppled over backwards – dead.

Heldig put up a better defense, managing to block three hard consecutive strikes from the other drone's red lightsaber before cutting its head off. Thinking he had won, Heldig nearly missed a block at his right side. He angled away, rotating away from a downward chop, cutting back through the midsection of the drone, effectively finishing it.

Heldig, fighting for his life, shoved the remaining drone back with the force. He then threw his blue blade into its chest before it could recover, impaling it with the blue glowing blade. The blue lightsaber flew back into his extended right hand as the drone charged. He exchanged several more strikes with it before chopping it in half.

It wasn't over though.

A massive demonic form charged, with an amber lightsaber shrieking to life.

The Vorn, Zashad, unleashed a furious barrage of strikes at Heldig, ultimately batting his blue blade back to cut diagonally down though his body.

Heldig fell to his knees, his blue blade vanishing back into its handle. The padawan then fell forward completely in lifeless repose.

It was over. Zashad stood over the Jedi bodies, his amber blade still glowing in his clawed right hand.

Edick remained frozen by the terrifying sight of the Vorn warrior. With his two meters of height, reptilian features, and broad sharp ears, he was a nightmarish sight to behold. There was the sound of faint mechanical clanking nearby. Two more Sith drones appeared from the edge of the landing field. They walked calmly to stand beside their Vorn master.

Zashad's serpent-like eyes finally turned down towards Edick. The Vorn said nothing at first.

"No survivors. No witnesses." Zashad said in a cold tone.

One of the Sith drones raised its right arm. A blaster cannon protruded from its forearm. Three red blaster bolts shrieked from its forearm, striking Edick in the chest to kill him.

Zashad shut down his lightsaber and surveyed the remains of the Jedi and their prisoners. He then turned towards one of the drones.

"Clean this up. Leave not traces." Zashad said, turning away to walk towards the Jedi's shuttle.

Obi-wan Shai stood in the center of a small enclosed arena. Sand covered the floor of the ring, which was bordered by a tan one meter tall stone wall. Tiered rings of seats surrounded the arena with a main booth gallery behind him. High up at the stands were open clerestory windows encircling the arena, allowing Tatooine's natural sunlight, air, and ever so faint sounds to pass inside. Visibly from the design of the arena it was intended as some sort of meeting hall or, more likely, a place for evaluating Jedi. Given that he was allowed access to the arena to practice against remote drones, Obi-wan guessed it was for the latter.

He held his glowing blue lightsaber at his side in a ready position. Its humming blue white blade purred next to him. He reached out with the force, sensing three mechanical orbs hovering towards him from different directions. His blue eyes stared ahead into nothingness it seemed. A blast bolt fired from one of the remotes. Without pause, his blue blade angled it away. Two more bolts from as many hovering remotes fired. Two more angles of his blade deflected them off.

The remotes began to rotate and hover slowly around him, circling their target.

A fury of several blasts fired from the rotating remotes. Obi-wan expertly deflected them away, backflipping out of the line of fire. The remotes quickly targeted him again and continued firing. Without using his eyes much, without looking directly at them, he saw their movements through the force – continuing to angle away their repeated low-power blaster fire.

The remotes then stopped. They hovered in place for a moment, settling to a default altitude. With a faint mechanical hiss, the three remotes gently floated away to leave the arena and return to their storage units.

Obi-wan took deep slow breaths, calming himself before shutting down his lightsaber. He sensed her easily before looking up to see Victoria Skywalker walking down the stairway of the arena seating.

"Very well done." Victoria noted to Obi-wan as she walked through a half-door in the arena wall.

"Thank you, Master Skywalker." Obi-wan replied to her respectfully.

"Your mother had a big influence on your saber technique." She added.

"How do you know, Master?" he asked curiously.

"Because I taught her." Victoria smiled warmly at him. "Of course, I also see a bit of your father there too."

"They taught me well." Obi-wan smirked. "Over and over again, as if preparing me. Perhaps for all of this." Obi-wan gestured indirectly with broad arms to the arena around him.

Victoria, still in her garb from her travels, looked on Obi-wan quietly for a moment.

"Obi-wan, there's something I need to discuss with you."

Obi-wan, who had been looking down for a moment, turned his blue eyes back up at her curiously.

"With all that's transpired of late, and all that may yet become, we need to tell you everything." Victoria began, trying to disguise her unease.

Obi-wan stared at her, waiting.

"Darth Syrik's real name is Marek Tal." She noted. "He's Darius Skywalker's son. My nephew and your second cousin."

Obi-wan's eyes widened a bit. He took a half step back. "So, my parents did know him. You knew him."

"I knew him as Marek Tal. I wasn't certain until now that he had become Darth Syrik." Victoria explained. "After my brother's fall, I learned that Darius had relationships with a few women throughout the galaxy. One of those relationships produced a child. A child that we were unaware of until he was an adult."

"Marek Tal." Obi-wan clarified.

"Yes." Victoria confirmed. "I went to meet him. We talked. I never alluded to his potential with the force but I'm certain he had some grasp of his potential abilities already. He was young, in his teens, but at the same time too old to begin training as a Jedi. His personality was… brash. Often uncompassionate. Not at all what we search for in Jedi. We left him where he was, a privileged son of a Corellian heiress."

The last bit got Obi-wan's attention. Tal being wealthy was a surprise. Having a humble upbringing it was odd to think someone of wealth could become so evil.

"You knew him." Obi-wan affirmed. "Did my parents know him?"

"I suspect they did. I'm not sure."

"When my father fought him. When I…" Obi-wan paused. The memory was still too difficult. "When he killed my father, I saw them interact. It was as though they knew each other."

"They might have. I don't know." Victoria replied. "After Darius was gone the fallout was considerable. Your parents left the Order. We had to regroup. Regain our introspection. We were busy getting our own house in order. Perhaps Tal found your parents after they left to confront them. To get information. Who knows?"

"Syrik… hated them. I could feel it when he attacked." Obi-wan recalled blankly. "I could sense it even before he reached our home."

Victoria looked down for a moment. The two walked together for a few paces. "Naturally, after what's transpired recently, we've found ourselves asking what we might have done differently. How we couldn't detect the Sith or the Vorn."

"You could have stopped him. Stopped Syrik from killing my parents?" Obi-wan looked over at Victoria.

"He was then as you are here before us now." Victoria countered with a hint of defense. "We couldn't kill him. He had done nothing wrong. He wasn't the greatest example of a sentient being but being horrible doesn't merit death – or imprisonment. You, Obi-wan, are not like him." Victoria stopped in stride to look at him.

"I understand." Obi-wan said, almost reluctantly. For a moment he couldn't meet Victoria's gaze. "I wish it were different, but I understand."

Victoria grabbed Obi-wan by the shoulders gently. The sudden warmth, the break in her otherwise stoic persona, caught him by surprise.

"Obi-wan, if there is anything I could have done to prevent your parents from being killed I would have done it. Believe me when I say that." she said warmly, finally meeting his gaze. "What happened to your parents, to Laura especially, drove a pain in my heart I never expected possible. She was not only my niece or my apprentice….if I had children I imagined her being what my daughter might have been like. We are not just Jedi, Obi-wan. We are people. We are family. I cared for her immensely."

Obi-wan stared blankly for a moment, then again looked Victoria in the eyes. They hugged for a moment, again not as Jedi but family.

As they parted, they slowly began to walk again.

"I know the image people have of me, Obi-wan." Victoria noted. "I am who I need to be. Just as you are who you need to be. These are outward appearances though. The real person lies inside and is far more complex. We are Jedi, though, and wield a great power. This is why we have rules. A way of doing things. Without order and structure there is chaos. And chaos combined with the power of the force… I shudder at the thought."

"What would you have me do then, Master Skywalker?" Obi-wan asked. "You want me to come into the Order? Master Ezen and Master Ordos don't seem like they want that."

"We have rules, yes. Time honored traditions and reasons for doing things." Victoria continued. "Jedi begin training as younglings because their maturity grows along with their skill in the force. Children are naturally empty vessels. They are a product of their environment. Teaching someone the ways of the force as an adult is not easy. There's a lot of preconceived notions involved. Too many feelings. Too much temptation to use the power unwisely. You were taught from birth by true Jedi. And your moral center has been proven time and again. Ayvan Ezen has a great appreciation for you. He's recommended you for Knighthood should you want it."

"That's very kind of him. Ayvan is a true friend. I don't know where I'd be without him."

"There are dark days ahead, Obi-wan." Victoria noted ominously. "I suspected the Vorn had a hand in Marek Tal's training and conversion to the dark side. The Vorn themselves, merely myth a few years ago, have become a major threat. I just returned from a vision quest in the desert where I met their leader, Darth Edos. Well, a projection of him anyway. He was Syrik's master."

Another pause lingered. They slowly walked out of the arena out onto a nearby plaza balcony. The towering butte and pillar mountains of the Jundland Wastes loomed beyond in the Tatooine sunlight.

"The Vorn are a force to be reckoned with." Victoria went on seriously. "They want all those able to use the force to be subservient to them – under their control. Naturally, they won't stop there. Their dominion would continue to control the galaxy. Perhaps as much of the universe as they could. All life would fall under their control. Much like Palpatine's Empire but far more dangerous. They're an army of skilled warriors, all able to use the force, with a zealous loyalty to their leader and their cause. To them, controlling the force is a religious cause."

"I understand." Obi-wan nodded.

"We've found where Syrik once lived." Victoria added. "We've sent Jedi there previously to inspect his home once the Ezen's were able to extract data from Syrik's ship and its hyperdrive. We've searched the home thoroughly, but I'd like you to go there to look around. Perhaps there's something you might be able to see that we haven't."

"Is this to be my first mission as a Jedi?" Obi-wan smirked.

"Are you requesting to become a Jedi?" Victoria replied. "We need your help, Obi-wan, and you're family. We need you here if you wish to stay."

Obi-wan looked on Victoria for a moment before nodding. "Okay. Do I wait for Master Ezen to return?"

"No. He and Master Anota may be a while." Victora answered. "I'd like you to go with Lieutenant Corino when he returns and one of our Jedi. I understand Corino is on his way back here soon."

"Yes, Master Skywalker." Obi-wan nodded.

Victoria looked out beyond the balcony, beyond the mesa the Jedi Temple was built upon, towards the surrounding desert.

"Hopefully we can get a bit more information on Syrik and find out more about the Vorn and what they're planning."

"You think he's alive too, don't you?" Obi-wan asked her. "Syrik I mean."

"My boy, I think you and I might be the only ones with that premonition." She answered. "Something in the force tells me were not done with Darth Syrik. But if he's alive I have no idea why he hasn't yet resurfaced."

Lyssa Anota sat at the small dining table of the suite they had been issued in Tipoca City. She sat contently drinking javaka from a white mug. The mug, of course, was in the same white as the surrounding décor. She knew it was from the Kaminoan tendency towards uniformity. Silently she wondered what would happen if she had produced a red or a yellow mug. The odd thought brought a slight smile to her face. She stared out the broad window next to the table, staring out at the rain beyond. The storm was as intense as any normally on Kamino. Heavy rain streaked against the thick glass, producing no sound. It was a bit odd to see such a strong dark storm outside and not hear anything. The Kaminoans had designed their city purposely this way as, from what Lyssa had read, the sound of constant driving rain and thunder could eventually have a maddening effect on those inside – especially offworlders.

"It didn't take long, did it?" Ayvan Ezen's rich voice noted.

Lyssa kept her gaze outside as Ayvan sat down next to her, holding his own mug of javaka – also in a white mug.

"It's calming." Lyssa noted plainly.

"You think the Kaminoans will keep us here long? Giving us a suite like this?" Ayvan asked.

"We'll see." Lyssa stated. "Are there separate sleeping quarters?"

Ayvan didn't answer quickly.

"I mean… I like my own space." Lyssa finally looked at him.

Ayvan smiled broadly, offering a brief laugh. "I know what you were saying."

"Sorry." Lyssa smirked. "I'm not sure how long the Kaminoans will take. As long as we can get some good information."

"Did you ask them?" Ayvan added.

"About Nemic? Yeah."

"What did they say?"

Lyssa finished another sip of her javaka "They say they'll look into it."

"That's a positive."

"Yeah." Lyssa breathed.

"Who is the other one? The padawan Master Skywalker wants you to take on?"

Lyssa finished the last of her javaka and set the mug down.

"Myria Kyle."

Ayvan's eyebrows raised slightly. "The girl with the purple hair?"

"The same." Lyssa replied. "Though Master Skywalker is strongly encouraging to revert back to her natural color before becoming a padawan. You know her?"

"She's pretty gifted for an initiate, but her behavior I hear is… borderline." Ayvan replied.

"She's a good girl. Just a bit too eager sometimes." Lyssa stated. "Master Skywalker in particular thinks I would be a good influence on her."

"I can see that. If she can settle down a bit…."

The door chimed. Lyssa and Ayvan both turned their attention to the door and stood.

"Enter." Lyssa said aloud.

The brushed steel door slid open, revealing a young male Kaminoan in pale blue and grey robes.

"Good evening, Master Jedis." The Kaminoan greeted them. "Taun We asked if you could follow me to her office."

"Yes of course." Lyssa spoke for them.

They both grabbed their cloaks and put them on before following the Kaminoan out into the polished white and black hallway.

The walk through the passages of the city was uneventful. Many of the corridors looked like the others. There was one exception where they walked out through a large glass enclosed bridge over an assembly area. The staging area was filled with a great number of modular storage units. Lyssa and Ayvan knew what the area was from their history lessons.

"This is it?" Ayvan asked the Kaminoan. "This is the old staging area for the clone army?"

The Kaminoan glanced out the glass enclosed tunnel to the area beyond.

"Yes." He confirmed. "This is where we trained the first clone army of the Old Republic." A pause of silence held among the group. "Most offworlders ask that question." The Kaminoan added, a definitive tone of curiosity in his voice.

Lyssa and Ayvan continued towards a pair of turbolift doors. Once inside, the clear glass lift shot them upwards at great speed, while offering no inertial disruption inside the cabin. The car rose above the old assembly grounds into the metal insides of the levels above. The walls of the turbilift shaft flew by as a blur of metal paneling until the car slowed to a stop, emerging up into a glass enclosed exit.

The Jedi and their escort exited into a level dedicated solely to the executive office of the city. A broad round chamber covered nearly the entire upper floor with a broad panoramic window nearly encircling the level. Only a small enclosed area behind them obscured the view; possibly living quarters or support chambers.

The Kaminoan walked the Jedi towards Taun We's broad white desk. He stopped just before it, gesturing with an extended hand for the Jedi to continue. Another male Kaminoan, Teren Elis, stood next to Taun We, who was seated at a high-backed chair behind the desk.

"Welcome." Taun We's singing tone noted, her long thin arm gesturing to two chairs that floated up from openings in the floor in front of her desk. "Please, have a seat."

The Jedi sat in the chairs.

"Please, leave us. I wish to speak to the Jedi alone." Taun We said to her male subordinates.

Elis and the other male Kaminoan walked away gracefully, disappearing back to the elevator lift to leave. With the other Kaminoans gone, Taun We spoke.

"As you may know, after the rise of the Empire we attempted to create a second clone army – to try and undo the damage we had inadvertently done." Taun We began. "After the uprising was put down, the Emperor forbade us to use our own cloning technology. If he hadn't needed us further, he might have killed us all the way he did with the Geonosians. As far as we know, he replicated our cloning procedure at three sites on different planets. The sample you brought us may have originated at one of these sites." Taun We depressed a button on her desk, bringing up a hologram of the humanoid genome sample. "But from what we know these sites have been long abandoned. It's possible the same technology was used at a yet unknown facility, but we can't be certain. There is once certainty though."

Taun We entered more commands into her desk computer. The genome hologram focused in on several markers.

"This is not any genome we've used nor does it correspond to any markers the Empire was known to have used when they replaced the Jango Fett genome." Taun We continued. "There are interesting sequences in the alleles though, and both the number and makeup suggest that whoever created these clones introduced something new to the sample. Something foreign."

Ayvan studied the sample, noting which markers have been changed. "The Vorn put themselves in the genome." Ayvan noted flatly. "Combined their own DNA with the source sample."

"It appears that way, yes." Taun We agreed. "Perhaps to make them stronger or more durable. Based on the top secret reports I was given, the Vorn have considerable strength and significant regenerative powers, certainly assets to frontline soldiers."

"Director, have you ever successfully cloned Jedi before?" Ayvan asked with a hint of dread in his tone. "Not just in physical form but in abilities? I think I've read somewhere that you or the Empire tried this."

"Several have." Taun We answered. "Very few succeeded and the specimens that survived to adulthood were quite unstable. The most successful, I believe, was Darth Vader, who used this very facility to clone a dark Jedi."

"Do you think someone could perfect this process?" Lyssa pressed. "Mass produce a Jedi army?"

"There are many difficulties, Master Anota. Admittedly, there is quite a bit we don't understand about how you access the force, biologically anyway." Taun We replied. "I believe there was even a time when the Jedi themselves considered the process a product of parasitic infestation."

Lyssa cleared her throat before answering. "It turns out that was a byproduct, not a cause, director."

"Still, there is a great bit of mystery to that part of the process." Taun We added. "I'm not sure anyone will ever be able to accomplish this goal, though personally I'm not a believer in the impossible."

"Thank you, director." Lyssa replied. "Can you give us a list of those three sites? Perhaps we'll start there."

"Of course, Master Jedi." Taun We's gentle hand again touched several buttons on her computer interface. The genome hologram was replaced with a basic galactic map, noting the three sites.

Coruscant, Vardos, and a planet named Corinth.

"Can we get a copy of this data?" Lyssa asked.

"Certainly, Master Jedi." Taun We entered more commands, then produced a datacard which she stood and handed to the Jedi.

"We greatly appreciate your help, Director. We are a bit pressed for time so if you don't mind, we'll take this and be on our way." Lyssa noted, accepting the card.

"We appreciate your visit, Jedi Masters. Anytime we can help just contact us." Taun We bowed.

Ayvan and Lyssa bowed in kind, then turned to walk away. Upon entering the lift and descending Lyssa pulled out her comlink and spoke into the device.

"Em. Prep the ship. We're leaving." Lyssa noted.

"Yes ma'am." The droid's voice replied quickly before the comlink closed.

"Are you thinking the same as to our first visit?" Ayvan asked her.

"The only obvious first choice. Corinth." Lyssa replied. "It's the most out of the way."

"And if we find a massive clone army there?" Ayvan asked her offhandedly.

Lyssa eyed her fellow Jedi. "We'll use caution." She grinned.

The _Ward_ exited hyperspace beyond the glimmering blue orb of Scarif. Coming in on a steep angle with its four engines blazing, the ship swooped down through the atmosphere towards the oceanic surface below. The chains of islands around the planet grew more defined as the shuttle descended quickly through the sparse cloud cover.

"Of all the places for this guy to hide out." Nash Corino said from the pilot seat as he looked out the window. "This place is paradise!"

"The Empire put their master archive here of all places." A Vurk Jedi named Tallion Vereze said from behind him.

Obi-wan remained silent as he sat in the copilot station next to Nash. He had returned to his oversized white shirt, blue tabard, and brown slacks which had a more everyday civilian look. Nash wore a standard New Republic tan field uniform.

"It feels strange Ayvan letting us take his ship without him." Nash noted.

"I don't think he wanted to take it way out past the Outer Rim." Obi-wan replied indirectly as he looked outside to the left to see the beautiful ocean paradise beyond. "I think the _Oberon _is faster than this ship."

"I'm not sure about that." Nash grumbled back.

"I meant through hyperspace." Obi-wan clarified.

"Hmmm." Nash thought. "Maybe."

A male Togruta Jedi named Grath Horne sat behind Obi-wan, his arms folded over his chest as he rested. "Wait until you see the hole." Grath said almost off-handedly.

"What do you mean?" Nash asked curiously.

"You'll see. It's on our approach route." Grath answered.

In a few moments Nash had his answer. Ahead, what looked like a chain of islands appeared from over the horizon. As they flew towards the mountain chain, they realized it wasn't a mountain at all.

"By the GODS!" Nash's eyes widened in stunned amazement.

The mountains were actually molten rock that had been pushed up at the perimeter of a massive crater – a crater hundreds of kilometers wide. The ocean had long ago refilled the crater with pristine blue green sea water. The islands had sprouted a bit of vegetation around its edges. A few trees. A line of mangroves and palms. But it was clear what the hole was.

"What is it?" Obi-wan asked, also in awe of the view.

"The crater that the first Death Star created when it destroyed the Imperial archive here." Grath answered.

"The true mountain chain is a few kilometers ahead." Tallion noted. "Most of the archipelagos here are low lying. Flat for the most part. The chain ahead is natural, formed by volcanic activity. One of the few mountain chains on this planet."

"It might seem Syrik chose this place for its opulence but there was a practical reason he set up his lair here." Grath added. "The geothermal system allowed him a free and abundant source of energy."

"How often have you guys been out here?" Nash asked the Jedi.

"A few times." Tallion noted. "It took us a while to trace his hyperdrive route back to here."

"The Ezens still have his ship, right?" Obi-wan looked over his shoulder at Grath.

"Yes. They're still pouring over the data." Grath answered.

"Nyoth Rok has been obsessed with the thing since he's got his hands on it." Tallion added. "He has crews working on it day and night."

Obi-wan again took a quick glance at Grath and Tallion. They were Skywalker Order Jedi. It took a while but Obi-wan thought he might be figuring out visual differences between the three orders. Skywalkers were traditional but their garb had a more utilitarian appearance. More practical utility belts. More well-worn tunics. Ezens looked similar but their garb seemed newer and more fashionable in the cut of the lines of their tunics. Rykanes, which he had never seen in person, were the most ornate of the three, using darker colors and metallic weaves in ornamental fabric patterns. The Rykanes seemed the most exotic or regal.

"There it is." Tallion noted pointed out the window with one of the three fingers on his greenish grey hand.

Nash cued in on the navigation marker that showed up on his computer. Ahead, a tent-shaped cluster of dark brown and green mountains appeared. Green plant life covered most facets of the mountain, but a few bare dark brown and black areas of the rock face were visible.

The _Ward _dropped low, flying about a hundred meters above the ocean towards the gorgeous tropical island ahead. As the _Ward _drew closer, Nash and the rest of the passengers could see that a side of the mountain had been cleared open, likely artificially. It was as if a whole side of the mountain near the shoreline had been detonated away, then drilled hollow to create an inverted V shaped opening to the inside. A duracrete pier extended from the opening a few hundred meters with a large round concrete platform at the end of it. It was a landing pad ringed with lights; lights that weren't needed in the day.

"There's an enclosed hangar bay in the upper west face of the mountain but we've been setting down on that main pad." Tallion noted to the pad at the end of the greyish white duracrete pier.

The _Ward _swung around to stop and hover over the pad. Its four landing gear extended downward before the ship settled in to land. As they descended, Nash and Obi-wan marveled at the sight of the dwelling ahead. The inverted V-shaped opening in the rock was hollow inside, with multiple balconied levels inside overlooking a large open-air atrium. The sight of it was obvious a home; the tropical home of someone very wealthy.

"Well, let's take a look." Grath said, getting up from his seat to disembark.

Tallion followed. With the flip of a few switches, Nash settled the _Ward _into standby mode. Outside, the reactor vents hissed vapor away from the ship. Obi-wan and Nash got up to follow the Jedi out of the rear ramp of the vessel.

The sight of the gash in the mountain rock ahead was impressive, exposing part of an interior three-story structure as balconies to the cave-like atrium within. The long concrete dock leading away from the landing pad at the end had brass lamp posts set at its sides. Obi-wan couldn't help but wonder who might have built such a home. It was obvious the semi-hidden dwelling was designed with a sense of craftsmanship. It wasn't a hideout constructed in haste. The inviting blue-green waters of Scarif lapped at the posts of the dock and the rock faces beyond. An indigenous blue crab crawled down the wet jagged rock face beyond. Flora budding subtle red flowers along their vines grew along the rock walls and along the small shore to the left.

Despite the paradisiacal surroundings and the calm of the home ahead, the Jedi and Nash walked with some sense of caution.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Seth asked aloud.

"I agree." Obi-wan noted calmly as they walked up the dock. "It's probably the walls of this place being exposed for so long to the dark side of the force."

"The home is secure." Grath assured them. "We've been here several times and installed security sensors. We haven't seen any indication of intrusion from their telemetry."

"All the same," Tallion paused, looking up to the exposed opening around them and the dwelling inside, now shading them, "I always feel a sense of apprehension here. As beautiful as this place is… I don't like it."

"The dark side of the force is powerful here, yes." Grath noted over his shoulder to the group. "Let's take a look around. Perhaps, as Master Skywalker noted, young Shai might be able to sense something we haven't."

"I can tell you one thing." Obi-wan looked around to the massive brownish marble of the atrium lobby now under their feet, then up to the massive amber lamps hanging from the cave-like roof above, "It feels as though Syrik has been here recently."

"Are you sure?" Tallion asked, somewhat enthusiastically.

"I don't sense any living creatures here now." Grath added.

"No, but I think he's been here recently. I'm more convinced he survived our encounter on Clenestine." Obi-wan added.

"You lanced that guy through the chest and he fell well over thirty meters off that platform." Nash countered. "I'm still thinking he didn't survive that."

"Never underestimate the force." Obi-wan glanced at his friend.

Grath led the group up a set of curving stairs leading up to the main living area. It was a large space, with long maroon leather couches and exotic woodgrain end and coffee tables. Windows to the outside were very wide but narrow vertically, cut into the mountain rock face so as not to be easily visible to the outside. Grey marble flooring on the upper level was outlined in red geometric patterns.

"These patterns on the floor." Nash pointed them out to the Jedi. "Crime syndicate? Some kind of Sith Order?"

"We're not sure." Tallion answered. "They don't match anything known in any database. We think they're simply artistic."

Further on there were tall narrow statues, likely art deco representations of women, more chairs and couches, wall lamp sconces, and various kinds of hanging art. Syrik's sleep chambers were no more remarkable, decorated in the same manner as the rest of the home. His bedroom had a similar broad window to the outside, offering a grand vision of the surrounding ocean.

Obi-wan remained shocked that the same man who lived in such luxury had also killed his parents.

"This is where we've been focusing most of our attention." Grath noted, leading the group down a flight of wide stairs away from the living quarters level.

The metal sliding doors parted ahead, revealing a wide hangar bay. It was the hangar bay that once held Syrik's Infiltrator – and it was empty. Black reflective deck covered the floor. There were energy and fuel charging stations and a few tool storage compartments, but beyond that the bay was empty. The maroon steel doors to the outside were shut, though some natural lighting came in from slat windows at the back.

"Pretty big for a private hangar." Nash noted aloud. "No maintenance droids?"

"None." Tallion replied.

"We found that odd too." Grath added.

"Alright." Obi-wan breathed. "Let's have a look around. See what we can find."

"I'll check things out here if you don't mind." Nash said to the group.

"Okay, we'll go through the living quarters." Grath added, leading the Jedi away.

Once inside, Grath, Tallion, and Obi-wan parted ways to search the massive home.

New Alderaan. The seat of the New Republic's power. Originally a colony world called Meran, the refugees of the original planet, destroyed by the first Death Star, settled there as it bore many similarities to their former home. Indeed, even Lake Makwarie in front of New Aldera had been artificially created to resemble the original city. The engineering feat had been a labor of love by a displaced people.

The native dominant species, the Merai, were characteristically a thin pale humanoid form with black eyes and white hair. They had been the subservient race to a warrior species millennium earlier, slaves to masters who had ultimately annihilated themselves. The Merai had a large planet with abundant resources, yet their population in the millennia since their emancipation was barely five million beings. They welcomed surviving Alderaanians as a kindred peaceful species. On New Alderaan, Merai and Alderaanians built thriving cities together and, with the Galactic Empire long gone, ushered in a new golden age for that world.

The Republic Senate also was located among the gleaming white towers of New Aldera. The post-Imperial seat of power had rotated much after Emperor Palpatine's death. The original location on Coruscant had been used for a time, with Chandrila, Nakadia, the doomed Hosnian Prime, Bestine, and finally New Alderaan to follow. The Senate Building was shaped much as it had been on Coruscant; a large silver cladded domed structure large enough to contain all the representatives of the galactic systems of the Republic. Airspeeders soared around the giant building carrying officials, dignitaries, staff, royalty, and other beings to and from business around the capital. A small spaceport was set nearby where small to medium sized interstellar transports could dock.

Junn Graff walked calmly through the long outer hall of the senate, as he had countless times in the past. A pair of white armored senate guards, in centurion style helmets and robes and carrying vibropikes, flanked Graff on his sides. They were his standard security, hand-picked by him. While they were typical looking guards like all the others assigned to the senate members, his were especially loyal to him. Graff, the senator of Corellia, was in what he saw as home territory, making him feel more at ease. All the same, he tried to hide his worry of what was to come from all the senators and staffers he passed in the hall.

And like Graff, other senators had armed guards and escorts. There were even a good number of armed Republic Military officers to be seen. While the original Alderaan had more pacifist restrictions to weapons on the planet, New Alderaan was a bit more relaxed in that regard. The civilians in the city and in the surrounding cities and villages owned few weapons, if only a few small arms here and there. A few small security garrisons were set around the planet with armed Republic soldiers stationed within. The capital city of New Aldera had quite a bit larger military presence, including a large base nearby. And security had been increased significantly since the incident on Clenestine and the appearance of the Vorn in their attempted invasion of Agara Prime.

Graff stopped at his office location near his senate box sector. A polished silver protocol droid with large bulging eyes greeted him as he entered. He went into his chambers, his guards ever present, and set down his briefcase to prepare himself. He didn't need to go over much. He had planned the events of that day for a very long time.

The chimes resounded through the cavernous halls of the senate building. It was the quorum call. Graff set his notes aside in his briefcase, shutting it before handing it off to another silver protocol droid that hurried off on its whining servos.

It was time.

Graff threw his traditional cape over his shoulders; a black cape with decorative gold stitched designs. With a thick gold band at its border, the cape seemed to accentuate the brown and white tunic he wore beneath to give him a more serious appearance.

He walked out through a short tunnel to his senate box. Like previous senate structures it was a circular assembly surrounding a central point. The major difference from the old Coruscant version of the senate was that the central pillar was not a pillar where the Supreme Chancellor stood. The Supreme Chancellor, or Prime Consul of the Republic Senate as he or she was properly called, sat in a senate box much like the others, only it was a maroon red in color instead of black. The central pillar instead held a large holographic projector to display the image of the speaker in turn.

Supreme Chancellor Feyd Markannas, a brown-haired olive skinned Tarsunt, appeared in triple scale in the main hologram projector.

"Beings of the Republic Senate. Welcome." Markannas' rich voice echoed through the massive public address system of the giant chamber. "The session will now come to order."

There was a bit of movement around the senate as the members moved about in their practiced routines. Each senator there marked themselves present in the touchscreen display at the front of their box. The business of the day began normally. A trade agreement with the Lothal System was finally voted upon for ratification after months of negotiation. A response to a mass civil uprising on Mygeeto was voted upon, where a contingent of New Republic troops would go to the planet under the direction of local law enforcement. A new class of civilian transport was discussed for safety review, ultimately deferred to the Republic transit commission.

Finally, his turn came.

"At the request of Corellian Senator Junn Graff, he would a like to address the senate at this time." Markannas' hologram boomed.

The image of the Supreme Chancellor flickered away, replaced not long after with the image of Junn Graff as he stood and walked to the edge of his senate box. Graff took a moment to look up at his own image. It always seemed odd for him to see himself towering over his own form and everyone in the senate. It was like some giant remote control monster that echoed his every move and word.

"Citizens of the New Republic. Fellow Senators. Friends and beings from across the galaxy." Graff noted in greeting, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Effective immediately I will be resigning my post as Senator of Corellia."

An understandable gasp fanned across the cavernous assembly.

"Order!" Markannas' voice boomed, silencing the crowd.

"I understand that this comes as a shock to many of you." Graff continued. "While I am just now making my choice known this is not something I arrived at quickly or without careful consideration. There will, of course, need to be a special election to replace me as representative of Corellia and for that, if there is any inconvenience, I apologize."

The rumblings among the chamber grew slightly and vanished just as quickly.

"It is my intention to leave Corellia and accept a position on Vardos as Prime Minister of their newly formed Vardos Protectorate." Graff announced.

The clamor of the assembly roared. Beings were outraged. Markannas pounded a silver orb shaped gavel repeatedly, its amplified booms echoed in the hall. "Order! ORDER!" Markannas demanded, eventually shouting the crowd down.

Graff heard some of the shouted comments.

"The Protectorate? A private military organization?" a Rodian yelled.

A Wookie delegation roared in protest, waving their arms angrily.

"This is how the First Order began!" someone else boomed.

"This is fear! Cowardice and fear!" another cry.

"Please!" Graff held his hands up, trying to calm the crowd himself. "This move is not intended to weaken the Republic. In fact, it's meant to strengthen it. Already the Trade Federation exists as a private entity maintaining security along the shipping lanes. Many of you, MANY OF YOUR SYSTEMS, have also developed private militaries above any beyond what you contribute to the New Republic! Even the Agarans, who successfully defended Agara Prime, did so with their own military forces doing much of the fighting. The Vardos Protectorate is meant to function the exact same way."

"This is a fracturing of the Republic!" another yelled across the expanse.

"What of the Jedi in all of this?" another shout.

"The Jedi can't protect us." Graff's image boomed back. The shock of the words made some voices fall silent. "Not like they did in the Old Republic. They have nowhere near the numbers they did prior to the Empire and they're focused more on their own security. The Jedi are looking out for their own. In truth, some of these new threats are forces out to destroy the Jedi – and they don't care who gets hurt or how many die as a result. Look at the Vorn! From what our intelligence has gathered they have a personal vendetta against the Jedi. And King Dakar? It turns out he's one of them!"

"Dakar is a Sith!" a Zabrak yelled. "He nearly killed one of our own. A young Jedi!"

"Whatever Dakar is…" Graff shouted. "And whatever the Vorn are we have to rely on ourselves to protect our own systems. Even the New Republic Military has followed that strategy."

The clamor of the senate grew again. "Order!" Markannas' voice yelled again, his gavel striking three more times to quake through the hall.

"We must all prepare for what is to come." Graff continued as the voices settled. "I remain loyal to the New Republic and to Corellia. But the best course of action I see, where I can help the most now, is in running the Vardos Protectorate – and their home world is on Vardos. Yes, I understand the historical significance of Vardos, but this is not the beginnings of a new Empire or another First Order. This is about security. Security for us all!"

Junn Graff stared out for a moment at the thousands of seats clustered around the chamber. The assembly chamber was sill as massive as he remembered seeing it for the first time as a newly elected senator.

"I yield my remaining time." Graff said finally, turning away from the edge of his box to leave.

Graff's white robed centurion guards fell in stride next to him, loyal as always.

The _Oberon_ emerged from hyperspace beyond the second moon of Corinth. With three moons in total and a faint debris ring, Corinth was a blue and green jewel of a planet much like Takodana or Naboo, with a predominantly lush green surface framed in blue and black oceans and lakes.

Several freighters and starships moved about the planet system. Freighters and larger ships were relegated to larger spaceports away from the main residential zones. Corinth was home to many of the wealthier denizens of the galaxy, so cities were designed to be primarily residential areas with manufacturing and trade zones farther away from civilization. Out of sight, out of mind.

The Empire had set up a major cloning facility on the planet during their reign. The planet had a slightly different status at the time, with many Imperial officials and officers living there during that era. Having a major military force nearby was an asset both in the safety of the planet and providing a manufacturing facility for clones throughout the Empire. There had been a time where hundreds of white armored Imperial Stormtroopers had patrolled the main cities of Jol, Kel Trian, and Endavar. They had been replaced by officers in polished white and blue plate armor and helmets over grey and black uniforms, somewhat resembling Canto Bight law enforcement.

The everyday citizens of Endavar, where the _Oberon _flew towards, wore light colored robes in contrasting floral designs, geometric patterns, or plain solid colors. The cities were designed more like villages, with few buildings over ten stories tall. Roadways and walking paths were winding and quaint, framed in well-manicured green leafy trees, cobblestones, and fountains.

The _Oberon_ flew towards the old cloning facility at the edge of Endavar. The cloning facility had once looked like five large hangar sized structures but had since been broken up and redesigned to look more residential and inviting. It was now a medical facility, specializing in cosmetic and genetic alteration of various beings, mostly humanoids, to help the wealthy maintain youthful and vigorous appearances.

Landing pads made of metal deck and expanded metal grating were set near the edge of the facility, out near a river with a tall forest beyond. Two other transports were parked on the five pads; both high-end luxury craft. The _Oberon _slowed to a hover and lowered on one of the pads where a droid in brushed silver plate and a black and emerald trimmed cape waited. The droid held a metal staff in its right hand as it stood near the pad. The wash of the _Oberon's _thrusters pushed the waiting figure's cape back as the transport settled down. The side door and ramp of the transport lowered, allowing Ayvan Ezen and Lyssa Anota to exit the vehicle.

"Greetings Jedi Masters." The silver plated droid greeted them as they approached. "I am Khyrus Janus. Associate Administrator here at the Endavar Medical Complex."

"Greetings." Ayvan bowed, as did Lyssa in kind. Upon having a closer look, Ayvan and Lyssa realized Khyrus wasn't a droid.

"You wear body armor? What species are you if I may ask?" Ayvan ventured.

"Yes, I am Pau'an." Khyrus seemed to smile behind his silver faceplate, which clearly resembled a mask upon closer inspection. "This suit serves as a photometric barrier and maintains my health. I suffer from a somewhat rare genetic disorder for my species making my skin averse to prolonged solar radiation."

"Tentanath." Lyssa named the disease. "You burn in sunlight?"

"In a simple way of describing it, yes." Khyrus answered. "Please follow me."

Lyssa and Ayvan fell into stride next to the silver plated administrator. Khyrus seemed to use his metal staff as a walking stick.

"Your transmission noted you were looking into long-abandoned cloning facilities used by the Empire?" Khyrus asked, mostly for the sake of conversation.

"Yes." Ayvan answered. "We know this facility hasn't been used to make clones in nearly three hundred years, but we'd like to see if anyone in the surrounding area might have appropriated this technology."

"Our government fully approves and supports your investigation, yes." Khyrus noted. "You understand that due to the exclusivity of some of our clients that there are some areas of the facility that might be restricted, but otherwise we will fully cooperate however we can."

"That is most helpful, Khyrus." Lyssa noted.

The group walked through a sliding glass door to the interior of the facility. Glass walls were set at the edge of the facility, with a long corridor with full glass along one outer wall leading back into the distance. Droids of all kinds, all brand new and polished, hurried throughout the passages with their living tech coworkers. A pair of humans two junctions down were moving another humanoid being on a floating gurney into a procedure room.

"Where would you like to go first, Jedi?" Khyrus turned to ask them politely.

"Your records bank if we may." Ayvan replied. "That's perhaps the best place to start."

"This way." Khyrus led them down the busy glass and steel hall.

Obi-wan stared out the wide window of Darth Syrik's main bedroom. It was quiet. The bed, with white and maroon sheets, had been made perfectly. A holoprojector, cased in black metal, sat at the far end of the room. Nearby was a bar of sorts, with crystal liquor bottles from across the galaxy.

Darht Syrik. Born Marek Tal. Son of Darius Skywalker and Obi-wan's uncle via his mother. How could someone like this kill so easily? Kill family? Did Syrik know Obi-wan's mother Laura, Syrik's sister? Marek Tal had been raised by his own family separate of the order, an unknown illegitimate child of the Jedi. Born into wealth yet robbed of part of his birth family. Or had Darius known about him? And did Darius sire other children?

They had been at Syrik's home for several hours scouring over the cavernous structure. It had to have taken some measure of wealth to dig out a luxurious lair in a dormant volcanic mountain. And surely Syrik couldn't have done it alone. Contractors had to have been hired. Or perhaps construction droids with laser drills had done it all. Obi-wan looked at the walls, at the bolt together constructed corridors and modules, to try and guess their design.

And why Scarif? It was paradise. Why live here and want to harm anyone in general? As Obi-wan looked outside at the serene tropical beauty, as the cool sea air blew against his hair and skin, he wondered why tranquility wouldn't simply overtake anyone who lived there.

Then… sound. He heard the hollow sound of air moving. Air conditioning. No, something else. Air in a passage. He reached out with the force and his ears. He turned towards a large wall painting at the back of the room. The image was of a regal city in another tropical paradise. A mythological city? No, Obi-wan remembered. It was the palace of Theed on Naboo, painted as it looked hundreds of years ago in the afternoon sun.

Theed. Home of Luke Skywalker's mother. And home of Sheev Palpatine, Dark Lord of the Sith and Emperor.

The air was coming from a chamber behind the painting, venting through its hidden seams. It seemed silly that it could be so simple.

Obi-wan extended his left hand towards the painting and reached out with the force. There was a click. The wall slid open, revealing a narrow hexagonal metal grate passage leading into a larger room. Obi-wan immediately raised his comlink to his mouth.

"Guys, you might want to come up here. I found something." Obi-wan noted into the com.

"We're on our way." Nash noted.

Obi-wan replaced his comlink on his belt and walked towards the corridor opening. He kept a mental note of his own lightsaber handle hanging on his belt. He felt the cold sense of fear wash over him, but he calmed his mind and let it pass. No doubt it was the residual presence of Syrik.

Obi-wan's right boot clanked slightly on the hallway grating as he took his first step on it. A part of him cursed himself for giving his presence away with sound, but as he reached out with the force, he could feel no living being was inside the hidden passages. Passages. It reached out into several chambers based on what he could feel with the force.

Walking through the corridor, the first chamber Obi-wan emerged into was a small command center of sorts. There was a single padded chair at the end of the hexagonal chamber with several large screens fixed in front of it. All the screens were off. This was Syrik's chamber, where he gathered intelligence and plotted. Obi-wan could feel that he had been there.

There was a sudden clamor of footsteps behind Obi-wan. Grath, Tallion, and Nash hurried through the passage to the command center.

"How did you find this?" Grath asked, somewhat shocked.

"We've been here several times and didn't find this! Not even on sensors!" Tallion added quickly.

"I heard it." Obi-wan explained. "On my world, Umaru, we have mountain chains where heavy mist collects in the valleys. The mist carries sound pretty well and you can get lost in it if you're trying to find your way through it or tracking something. The echoes can throw you off and you can't see very well. I learned to use the force to compliment my hearing to keep from getting lost."

"Interesting." Grath noted. "I never would have thought to do that."

Obi-wan walked slowly towards the computer terminal. He rotated the tall black leather chair, noting how it had been worn from use. Syrik had sat there. Obi-wan settled into the chair himself and turned slowly towards the computer system. It powered to life as he touched its control keys. The three flat black screens flickered to life, showing Aurebesh characters in white font. Obi-wan worked over the terminals but was continually blocked by the system's security.

"Looks like some pretty heavy encryption." Nash noted. "Let me take over and see what I can do."

Obi-wan slid out of the seat, allowing Nash to settle into it in his place. As he stood up Obi-wan noticed another passage into a separate chamber. Much like the one they were in, the chamber was constructed in dark grey metal and expanded decking. Beyond an open doorway sat an operating table. A medical system hung over the table, with a variety of robotic arms hanging down towards where the patient would lay. Obi-wan walked over towards the medical chamber with Grath and Tallion close behind.

The medical equipment was easy to power up and not locked out like the system Nash continued to work over. Grath walked over to the computer interface. His hand paused over a spot of dirt, or possibly blood. Obi-wan and Tallion noticed the stain on the touchscreen as well. Grath activated the system. The droid arms whirred up with power but settled into a standby mode.

"Last patient procedure is still in here." Grath noted, his hands working quickly over the touchscreen.

The results showed up on a wide screen on the wall to his left. It was of a humanoid male, showing an internal scan with tissue, organs, and skeletal structure. The areas injured highlighted as Grath spoke.

"Multiple contusions. A fractured collar bone…. An impalement wound through the chest…. By a lightsaber." Grath turned his gaze up to look at Obi-wan. "He was here."

"He's alive." Obi-wan exhaled. He walked over towards Grath and hit one of the touchscreen buttons.

The internal scan image was replaced with one adding skin and hair; an actual visual scan. Blonde hair. Pale face with darkened skin around the eyes. A body covered in scarring, a few lightsaber burns, and the main hole in his chest where Obi-wan had impaled him. It brought back memories of their duel back with crystal clarity.

"It's him.' Obi-wan added.

"Is he still here?" Tallion added.

"I think we would have sensed it." Grath replied. "We've been here a few times since Obi-wan defeated him. Why haven't we run into him?"

"And the Ezens have his ship. How did he get here?" Tallion asked. "And how did he leave?"

"The Vorn must be helping him." Obi-wan said. "The Vorn or someone else."

"He probably got that broken collar bone falling off that mooring platform." Grath guessed. "One of those battle droids or someone else, someone watching the battle at Nevar Khyn, probably picked him up – brought him here."

"He's somewhere." Obi-wan's voice became determined. "We have to find him."

"I got in!" Nash noted aloud from the other chamber.

The Jedi rushed back to see what Nash had found. The screen seemed to still have a large amount of nonsense in the text.

"There's still a lot of encryption but it should decode over a few hours." Nash pulled out a datacard from his jacket, inserting it into the terminal in front of him. "It'll download directly."

"Hopefully there's something useful in that data." Grath stated, looking at the computer terminal warily. "We should be on guard while we're here… and leave as soon as that's done."

A white and green trimmed Sullustian Corvette rocketed away from the Coruscant system. En route to one of the other system planets, the _Envoy Star, _as it was called, remained in sublight for its journey instead of using its hyperdrive.

The vessel, a modernized version of the Corellian standard, was a transport vessel of the Rykane Order. It was a Jedi vessel. And while there were a few Rykane Jedi on board much of the crew were regular uniformed beings. Wearing light grey and white trimmed garb, the support crew were Guardians of the Whills, supporters of the Jedi. Some were ordinary volunteers, aiding the Jedi in support roles like piloting ships, maintenance, and doing basic tasks. Others were benefactors, those who helped fund the Jedi. The ship itself had been a gift from a wealthy Nemoidian supporter.

While the Skywalker Jedi shied away from such support, the Ezen's and, particularly, the Rykane's were appreciative and welcoming of the help.

Dane Ordos, head of the Rykane Order, sat in his quarters on the _Envoy Star_. He sat upon a large round padded seat in the gleaming, seemingly new, white and black chamber. A wide window to the stars was set into the wall beside him. The lighting was dim, allowing his mind to be at ease. His robes were dark blue with gold patterning in the silk fabric. His long black hair was tied behind his head in a top knot. His eyes on his worn middle-aged face remained closed as he meditated in peace.

His brown eyes then opened suddenly. A disturbance in the force… perhaps.

Dane sat up from his chair and retrieved his lightsaber from a counter beside him, placing it on his sash belt. He then walked out of his chambers into the equally clean white and black corridor. He had the feeling of someone who had just woken up in a busy house. It took him a moment to regain his senses, to understand the everyday tasks people walking around him in the corridors were doing.

One of his fellow Jedi, a male Duros named Kureth, encountered Ordos in the hall.

"Is everything okay, Master?" Kureth asked politely.

"Hmmm. Just a passing feeling." Ordos breathed. "How is the ship?"

"We're a few hours out of Duneredin." Kureth replied. "The captain thinks we'll be a little ahead of schedule."

"Very well. We'll….."

A heavy blast cut Ordos off, rocking the ship violently. Alarm klaxons activated immediately. Suddenly, the beings working the corridors were at a running pace. Another blast quaked through the ship.

"We're under attack!" someone shouted.

Ordos looked at Kureth warily. Both ran towards the bridge.

Outside a black Raptor fighter soared past the starboard side, having just finished an attack run. A second fighter opened fire, sending several green turbolaser blasts into the topside shielding of the _Envoy Star._ Defensive turbolasers on the corvette opened fire, striking one of the fighters to destroy it in a trailing fiery blast. Three more Raptor fighters emerged from the dark backdrop of space to join in the assault.

"GET US INTO HYPERSPACE!" the captain was heard yelling.

"We can't! Someone's activated a gravity well that's interfering with the drive!" a hand replied.

Ordos heard the exchange and looked at Kureth.

"They mean to board us." Ordos said calmly, pulling his lightsaber from his belt.

A female Jedi ran into the area, hurrying towards her master. "What's happening?!"

"It's an assault." Ordos answered.

A large assault ship, twice the size of the Sullustian Corvette, appeared from behind, rocketing forward at flanking speed. The grey and black ship was long and rectangular, with guns set atop and along the sides of its hull. A short bridge tower with angled blue transparisteel glass at its front and sides was set at the top of the vessel. Raptor fighters continued to shoot at the Corvette, further weakening its shields, as the Vorn cruiser itself began to open fire. The Jedi vessel tried to defend itself with its turbolasers but to no avail. A proton torpedo from a Vorn Raptor detonated a topside turbolaser on the Corvette. Its defenses were virtually finished.

Soon, the shields of the Corvette were down and the Vorn cruiser rushed up alongside of the Jedi vessel, drawing closer to it. An access tube airlock extended from the Vorn vessel towards the Jedi craft. A pair of large iris hatches opened atop the Vorn cruisers, allowing a few of the demonic warriors to emerge out into the vacuum of space itself to walk towards the Jedi ship. Their dragon-like faces were obscured with breathing masks and magnetized fingerless gloves and boots helped the Vorn move over the metallic surface of their ship towards the Jedi craft.

Laser cutters blazed along the seams of the airlock door where the Vorn docking collar had attached. The remains of the door were detonated inward, allowing a horde of olive drab armored clone troopers to rush into the Jedi vessel. Blasters screamed, sending red bolts of light blazing across the corridors.

A dark haired humanoid male Jedi named Sayle rushed towards the invading troopers along with the Guardians of the Whills, who were firing their blaster rifles back at the clone troopers. Sayle's green lightsaber surged to life, deflecting as many blaster rounds as he could away. The clones were too formidable. A few fell from Sayle's blade but a few clone troopers were able to strike him several times with blaster rounds, killing him.

A Vorn rushed in among the clones, then another. Their amber lightsabers shrieked as they powered up. The massive Vorn towered over their troops, seemingly filling the polished white and black corridors. They chopped their way through the guardians.

The female Jedi, Jerra, stopped one of the Vorn, activating her blue blade to clash with the Vorn saber in a quick desperate exchange.

Dane Ordos encountered a Vorn in another corridor. His blue lightsaber activated as he charged, trading several strikes with the demon before cutting the Vorn's head off. Another Vorn appeared suddenly at his back but the Jedi Master threw it back with the force.

Glowing circles of yellow melting slag appeared from above. A Vorn cut through the ceiling, falling into the corridor near Ordos. It sneered at the Jedi Master as it activated its amber blade. Another Vorn fell from the ceiling behind the first; three were advancing on Dane Ordos.

The Vorn all charged with their weapons. Ordos proved himself to be a true Jedi master. Deflecting their blades away as he used the close walls of the corridor and the Vorn's size to his advantage. Ordos deflected a high strike, rotate away from another blade, cut up into the wrist of a Vorn, ducked another flat swing from a glowing amber blade, stabbed another Vorn through the chest. A Vorn chopped down at Ordos, who leaned away, turning to cut off another Vorn's arm, then through its body. A Vorn saber glanced off Dane's shoulder, then another pierced his side. Ordos cried out briefly but pushed pain aside, deflecting two heavy strikes from the Vorn that had lanced him before cutting through its midsection.

Clone troopers rushed into the hall. Ordos stood facing off against the remaining Vorn with two others dead at his feet. The clone troopers opened fire. Ordos deflected many of the blaster bolts away, sending one into the chest of the remaining Vorn, but the firepower proved too much. Ordos was struck a few times in his chest and arms by blaster fire, forcing him to retreat down an adjoining corridor. The halls of the ship were filling with smoke, aiding Ordos to escape.

Kureth and Jerra fought for their lives against the Vorn and their clone troopers. Jerra chopped through a pair of clone troopers with her blue blade. Kureth deflected a number of hard strikes around himself with his blue blade, chopping back at the amber saber of the Vorn towering over him.

More of the Whills Guardians fell, their blaster fire unable to stop the green armored troopers advancing though the corridors. Another Jedi padawan was struck down by a Vorn blade. Yet another Jedi fought a clone trooper carrying a vibro-pike. The clone trooper stood his ground against the green blade of the Jedi, eventually striking him with the energized weapon a pair of times. The Jedi fell stunned, allowing the clone trooper to pull out his blaster to finish him off with a few close-range bolts.

Jerra tagged a Vorn in the upper arm with her blue blade but was cut down by another Vorn. Kureth lasted only a bit longer, facing off with a relentless Vorn warrior. Kureth's blue blade stopped a strike over his right shoulder, low at his left, above his head, sidestepped a chop from the humming amber blade, cut down for the Vorn's head only to be blocked, trading a few quick shrieking strikes left, then right. The Vorn rotated Kureth's blade away, turning his own amber blade to thrust through the Duros's heart.

The Jedi and the Guardians were all but defeated. Dane Ordos stumbled into a corridor junction to see Jerra's dead body. Beyond were the dead bodies of more Guardians with Kureth's lifeless form further off. Master Ordos ran off down a nearby corridor, turning the corridor to encounter yet another Vorn.

Ordos was taken by both survival instinct and a bit of rage. His blue blade ignited again in his hand. Though already badly wounded, Ordos kept pace with the Vorn's violent strikes, leaning away from a chop then batting the amber blade of the demon back. He turned the attack on the Vorn, sending a fury of heavy strikes at the larger warrior. Breaking through the defense of the Vorn he was finally able to cut through its torso – as another Vorn appeared with two clone troopers. Ordos, at speed, chopped down diagonally through a clone trooper, threw the other trooper back with the force, traded three strikes with the Vorn, and cut into the Vorn's leg. The Vorn threw an upward backhanded arc at Ordos, who stepped back from the swing. The amber blade came back, cutting off Ordos' left hand.

Ordos cried out, but in his anger he was able to respond with a backswing, slicing off the Vorn's head.

Without thinking, Ordos threw his lightsaber handle at the other surviving clone trooper. The blue blade activated before it hit the clone trooper in the chest, impaling it into the nearby bulkhead. The clone trooper stood mortally wounded for a moment with the glowing blue blade humming through his chest. Ordos pulled the blade back through the force, allowing the clone trooper to fall dead on the floor.

The blue saber vanished with a shink as it flew into Ordos' extended right hand. Clutching the severed end of his left arm the realization of his wounds became apparent. Ordos stumbled, catching himself from falling by reaching out to a nearby metal panel. The Jedi Master could sense that all his Jedi were probably dead on board, as were most of the Guardians. His mind raced to grasp at what had happened – how they had been surprised and routed so quickly. He stumbled off towards a maintenance corridor, veiled in mist jetting out through severed cooling lines and vents.

A squad of enemy clone troopers rushed by where Ordos had been standing, oblivious to where he had vanished into the mist.

The bodies of the captain and bridge crew lied on the deck. The captain had a lightsaber wound through his chest. The crew had various saber cuts and blaster holes smoldering through their uniforms.

The Vorn warrior Zashad held his amber lightsaber blade out to his side. He had just killed the captain with the blade, which vanished with a shink into the copper and silver handle of the weapon. A group of green armored clone troopers and another Vorn stood in the bridge over the bodies.

Another green armored trooper hurried into the bridge, holding his still warm blaster rifle. The trooper stopped in front of Zashad to look at his superior through the black tinted narrow visor over his eyes.

"My Lord. The ship has been secured." The trooper said obediently through his helmet speaker. "All Jedi have been accounted for and the remainder of the crew has been eliminated."

"How many Jedi were there?" Zashad asked in his low gravelly voice.

"Nine in total, just as the intelligence report stated." The trooper noted.

"Very well." Zashad replied. "Clean up the bodies and eject them to space. We have to…"

A slight rumbling passed though the ship. A warning light flashed on a nearby terminal just after. One of the green armored shock troopers hurried to the console to see what had occurred.

"Damage to a secondary reactor…." The clone trooper explained, his gloved hands tapping over the computer keys. "Just behind the turret our fighters destroyed. The bulkhead blew in a small area just two decks behind it."

"Notify the _Spectre_ and initiate repairs." Zashad ordered, referring to their battle cruiser. "We need to patch this vessel up and make it presentable."

"Yes sir." The clone trooper obediently carried out his orders.

Zashad stood and stared out the wide window at the front of the ship. He was its new commander.

Out in space, a sizeable debris field trailed behind the _Envoy Star_ and the black Raptor fighters swooping by on patrol. Parts of a destroyed turbolaser, metal exterior paneling of the corvette, broken conduit line, and a small escape pod floated behind the damaged ship, rotating randomly in the zero gravity void of space.

Ayvan, Em, and Lyssa stood in the heart of the Endavar archive, sitting in a ring of couches set around a holographic table. Ayvan sat on one of the couches, using a datapad to cycle through the file system of the archive computers around them. Em was plugged into a different console, examining files that may have been altered. Lyssa sat opposite of Ayvan, watching the archive record in the holographic projector. They were reading through a log description of equipment moved out of the old cloning facility, most coded to be logged for destruction. All the destroyed cloning equipment had been verified by Republic officials of the era. There seemed to be no irregularities. Everything seemed legitimate. The work, in and of itself, was becoming boring. They all remained hopeful for some tiny bit of useful information to appear, yet fatigue was setting in. They tried to remain sharp in the face of volumes and volumes of unremarkable information, trying to notice some small clue.

The door at the far end of the computer archive slid open, allowing Khyrus to enter. His silver armored form, cloaked partially in his grey and emerald trim cape-like robes, seemed to glide through the rows of computers towards the Jedi and their droid.

"No luck yet?" Khyrus asked.

"Nothing." Ayvan replied.

"It's painfully tedious going through these records." Khyrus noted. "I've done it many times myself. I'm sure if there had been some discrepancy in the last three hundred years that the Republic would have been alerted. Corinth has a firm alliance with the Republic. There is, however, someone here that might be able to help you more, and he's asked if he might have an audience with you. A gentleman by the name of Cain Alistair."

"Is he a representative of Endavar? Or the medical facility?" Lyssa asked.

"No, he isn't. Master Alistair is more of a… concerned citizen." Khyrus explained. "He isn't a part of our government, but he is a well-respected member of this community."

"Very well." Ayvan stood up and set aside the datapad.

"He's only a short distance away. I have a transport ready." Khyrus replied. "Your droid may come as well."

"Lead the way." Lyssa gestured to the door.

Khyrus led the group out of the archive and back into the gleaming corridors of the facility. They walked up a few flights of glass enclosed stairs up to a platform framed by evergreen trees of the nearby forest. A tall van-like airspeeder transport waited, with an officer of Endavar security waiting at the opened side door. Khyrus led the group into the transport, with the Jedi and Em nodding respectfully to Endevar uniformed security as they entered.

With the Jedi on board, the guard entered the ship and slid the side door closed. The white airspeeder transport lifted off the pad, rotating out on its humming repulsors over the forest to fly out over the nearby village.

Ayvan looked out the window at the passing residences below. He looked down the winding cobblestone streets. The sidewalks framed by ivy and trees leading to quiet doorways, passages, or small plazas. The cobbled together nature of the neighborhoods reminded Ayvan of Mos Espa on Tattoine, only on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Here the crowding was due to aesthetics and comfort, and the living domain behind the uniformly mustard colored doors were likely very spacious and luxurious.

The speeder began to fly over larger properties. Full homes and then mansions set into tiered large plots of land, all bordered by tall uniform looking off-white brick walls. Strangely, the communities below seemed more tranquil than most other cities Ayvan had visited. There were few ill thoughts. There wasn't the resonance of hunger and crime. There was little want in the exclusive community.

"I know what you're thinking." Khyrus noted, noticing how Ayvan was looking out the airspeeder window.

Ayvan turned his ruby red eyes up towards the white and silver facemask of Khyrus. It looked like Khyrus was grinning behind his mask possibly.

"This is a world unto its own – Corinth." Khyrus noted. "The war hasn't touched this place. Conflict… hasn't touched this place. Even during the time of the Empire, when Endavar was producing Stormtrooper clones, there was little to no exposure to the conflict. This city and the whole planet, it doesn't notice the blood being spilled in other parts of the galaxy. It's as if war doesn't exist here."

"Long ago they thought the same about a lot of other places." Lyssa interjected. "Coruscant. Canto Bight. Bespin. Neimoidia. All those places never thought conflict would land on their doorstep."

"Oh, I understand Master Jedi." Khyrus noted. "My meaning was that this planet for the most part just does what it's always done. Provide some sort of valuable service to the wealthy Core Worlds and continue on as though nothing is happening. One day it's the Old Republic, the next the Empire, then the First Order, and so on. Yet Corinth remains Corinth."

"We are all interconnected." Ayvan noted flatly. "It may not seem like strife in another part of the galaxy affects this place but it does."

Khyrus tried to guess Ayvan's mood, thinking the conversation had soured a bit.

"It was simply an observation, Master Ezen." Khyrus noted. "I meant neither good nor bad in the statement."

"I understand. I…."

Ayvan was cut short by the sight of the larger homesteads they were flying over. The plots of land had become larger and more elaborate. Large gardens surrounded one home, which looked like a fortress. The next estate had a long reflecting pool in front of it, reaching across a lush green lawn. The next, which appeared to be where they were headed, had a large lawn and hanging gardens at the side of the property. The home was classical in design, again resembling Naboo architecture with copper cupola domes and detailing that seemed from antiquity. A large pool with a realistic waterfall nearby was set at another side of the estate. And directly next to the home was a large stone hangar. One full side of the hangar was open completely, with a brand-new YT-2400 light freighter set on the onyx black deck of the bay.

Ayvan immediately noticed the turbolasers on what looked like the factory-new YT-2400.

"You let an armed vessel park here?" Ayvan asked with some surprise.

"Master Alistair has a special dispensation if you will." Khyrus explained. "He and a few others but Master Alistair especially. He's… done quite a bit for our planet and the nearby intergalactic community."

"I've never heard of him." Lyssa noted.

"The Jedi, if I'm not mistaken, exist outside of the want for material things?" Khyrus noted. "The opposite really of this place. I wouldn't be surprised if you Jedi looked through your funding if there wasn't a large donation or two from Master Alistair. He's a bit of a…. businessman meets adventurer meets scholar and philanthropist."

"Interesting." Ayvan breathed, looking around at the villa surrounding their descending airspeeder.

Upon landing, the side door of the airspeeder again opened, allowing the Jedi, Em, and Khyrus out onto an octagonal raised metal landing platform. It was evening, and the lights at the side of the walk leading away from the pad towards the home illuminated a quaint, well-landscaped path towards the main estate home. The residence had more the feel of a vacation destination than a home someone lived in.

"Please, follow me." Khyrus noted, leading the group away from the airspeeder.

The Jedi and Em followed Khyrus away from the pad, through a portion of the hanging garden towards the main manor. The hanging garden was enclosed on one side by a tiered set of planters, forming what appeared to be a cascading wall of green. A water wall behind the planters was channeled into tiny runoffs on the wall to keep the plants hydrated. Stone pillars on the other side set with protruding metal arms resembling brass held a series of vining plants, both in hanging planters and vines that ran up the pillars themselves.

The main entry to the home was a set of tall copper framed glass doors – an old-fashioned set of swinging doors. There was a copper and brown droid at the main entry that remotely activated the automatic swinging main entry doors as Khyrus and his companions approached.

The interior was as classically inspired as the outside of the manor. Lots of dark lacquered wood made up the interior construction, with dark wood wall paneling and balcony rails above. Soft amber light illuminated the darker interior sections of the home away from the daylight coming in from the large outer windows.

After walking through a few similar central chambers, the group was led to a master study at the back of the manner. The study had the feel of an old library, also designed in the same dark woods as the rest of the home. Leather couches and a long coffee table were set near the entry.

Beyond, in front of a tall window overlooking another garden, sat a man at work at a large wood desk. His skin was fair. His clothes were a knitted long sleeve shirt, casual yet somewhat business-like, in a tan color. Cain Alistair's eyes looked up as the Jedi, Khyrus, and the light blue protocol droid entered.

"Master Jedi." Cain stood up from his work, walking towards his guests with an extended hand. "That is the correct plural form, yes? My name is Cain Alistair."

"A pleasure to meet you sir." Ayvan shook his hand. "Ayvan Ezen."

"Lyssa Anota." Lyssa shook his hand in turn. "This is my protocol droid, Em."

"I have heard of you." Cain extended his hand to the powder blue droid; an uncommon greeting for a living being. "You were Alyn Rykane's droid, yes?"

"Oh." Em seemed taken by surprise. "Yes. That was a very long time ago."

"I would love to have a long conversation with you sir." Cain grinned, gesturing to the couches in the middle of the study. "Please, sit. Make yourselves at home."

"It's interesting you know about my droid but we haven't really heard of you." Lyssa sated.

"I'm a bit of a historian." Cain spoke warmly. "And other things. As to my businesses I try to keep a low profile. Many here know me and Khyrus is a good friend. You can ask around the business community and get a reference to who I am if needed."

"I'm sure that wouldn't be necessary, Mister Alistair." Lyssa smiled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to appear rude."

"No, I didn't take it that way." Cain replied with a grin and obvious charm. "I never believed in being the celebrity magnate. A lot of that is wasteful and ego driven. It also has a tendency to draw… unwanted attention."

"I have to ask. Is that the _Outrider_ in your hangar?" Ayvan asked.

"It's a replica." Cain explained as he sat down with the Jedi. "The original is a solid design and quite fast so I had a copy made. Mine is called the _Khopesh_."

"And the weapons are functional?" Ayvan pressed.

"Oh yes." Cain nodded in an almost singing tone. "Sometimes my travels take me to less than civilized sectors. I am cleared with Corinth Defense."

"Yes, Khyrus explained." Lyssa replied.

"This is one of the reasons I asked you here. And thank you for coming." Cain continued. "When Khyrus told me you were at the Endavar facility I thought it was a fortunate coincidence. You see, as a point of fact, I am the owner of the Endavar facility, and Khyrus is one of my chief administrators there. Others alerted me that Jedi had arrived there, certain executive clients if you will. While our operation is on the up and up there are those that are concerned over… scrutiny. The presence of Jedi, even while welcome, was a bit disconcerting to some."

"It wasn't our intention to alarm anyone, Mister Alistair." Lyssa noted. "Interesting, we didn't see your name listed as the owner of Endavar, otherwise we would have reached out to you as well."

"Well, I don't like to put my name on these things. It's all really done through a few conglomerates I own, Endavar Biotech being a portion of one." Cain explained. "Khyrus told me you were the Jedi that were at the Agara Prime incident?"

Lyssa and Ayvan glanced at each other before answering. "Yes, we were. Why?"

"I was invited to attend that function by King Ukare. He's a long-time friend of mine. At least he was." Cain stated.

"I'm sorry. We did what we could to protect him." Lyssa replied. "He was a dear friend of mine too. So was his son."

"Oh, I understand. What I meant was my relationship with Ukare had cooled a bit in recent years." Cain clarified. "He had changed. The direction he was going in with his planetary defense was… somewhat concerning. I had many talks with him. I was concerned he was steering his planet on a path towards fascism. He assured me he wasn't but the dialogue left our relationship somewhat strained."

"You were not alone in that assessment." Lyssa replied. "Other systems were worried too. But the last time I met with Ukare he was the same warm man I've known for ages."

"Ukare was swayed by his son, Dakar. But you know this now." Cain noted grimly. "The entire galaxy knows what he is now. A Sith… this whole time."

"Not a Sith but, yes, a user of the dark side." Lyssa countered.

"He was a pawn of the Vorn." Cain replied as briskly. "These vile creatures… they inspire paranoia. They sow discord, pitting one side against another to weaken both. Dakar fed into this with his father."

"You seem to know a great deal about recent events. Things the Republic are hoping to keep quiet to keep people from panicking." Ayvan stated.

"I know. And I agree with the Republic on that." Cain stated. "I actually do a bit of work for the Republic here and there. Passing on information. You understand that I normally don't disclose such things out of concern for my safety. But I trust the Jedi. The faith of others in your order may have waned but I still believe you all are truly a force for good."

"We appreciate that, Mister Alistair." Lyssa noted sincerely. "With respect though, what you've told us we already know. We were here hoping to figure out who's been supplying the Vorn with clone troopers."

"Do you know anything about this?" Ayvan added.

"No." Cain answered flatly. "Well, possibly. I've collected my own information on the matter since the Agara Prime incident. I too would like to know who has been creating more clone armies. I can give you what I know so far on the subject." Cain held up a small datacard, extending it towards the Jedi.

Ayvan got up slowly to accept the card. "Thank you, Mister Alistair." Ayvan said, gently taking the card and pocketing it in his robes.

"But I do have information I've wanted to pass on to your order for some time." Alistair continued. "I don't trust HoloNet or other transmission systems with this and I've been unable to visit your Orders personally. It hasn't seemed a priority – until Agara Prime. Then all the pieces fell together. I don't know who's making these clones or battledroids but I have an idea that their capital warships are being assembled at an automated facility somewhere in space. I don't believe it's a planet-based fabricator like Corellia or Sienar or Kuat. I do know that a substantial amount of material has been vanishing from all over the galaxy, mostly from wrecks of old capital ships like those found on Jakku and Endor. Even the submerged remains of the _Intimidator _and the _Persecutor_ on Scarrif have been plundered for raw material."

"Do you know how these materials are vanishing?" Ayvan asked.

"Large freighters with industrial tractor beams. They must have skilled recovery teams too." Cain explained. "One more thing to note. You've been facing off against the Vorn and their black drones, yes? The Vorn have their own hand-crafted lightsabers while their drones have fabricated red blades."

"How do you know this?" Lyssa aksed.

Cain opened a drawer in his desk, pulling out two lightsaber handles. One was copper and silver, a work of art unto itself. The second lightsaber was anodized black with brushed stainless-steel finish and appeared more industrial in design. Cain placed both lightsabers on the edge of his desk before the Jedi.

"These were recovered from the Battle at Agara Prime." Cain explained. "Please be careful. They are functional."

Ayvan and Lyssa each picked up a blade, examining them closely.

"I examined the lightsabers myself." Cain continued. "I didn't take them apart, no. That I understand is dangerous for a non-Jedi to do. I used a gamut of scanning devices to get a look inside. The kyber crystals from the Vorn blade is sourced from somewhere outside our galaxy or, perhaps, in an unknown location. The Sith Drone blades, though, are kyber taken from Jedha, used in the first and second Death Stars. They were recovered from the debris fields of both. Once part of their main weapon, they all contain distinct striations from the firing of the main weapons. Records of that data I was able to acquire from an old Imperial archive. And they match up to the kyber in the fabricated blade."

Lyssa and Ayvan continued to look closely over the blade handles, trading them between themselves to look at the other.

"You can keep those, of course, for verification." Cain gestured with his hand to the sabers. "I'm sure you have your own that you've recovered from your enemies."

"We do. Thank you." Ayvan noted.

"I've heard rumors of the Vorn up until what happened to Ukare." Cain went on. "Perhaps I didn't want to believe them. There are plenty of star systems that are warry of the Republic and the Jedi's ability to protect the galaxy. Not a day earlier Corellian Senator Jun Graff resigned his post to become director of the Vardos Protectorate. There's Agara Prime and their military build-up. The Trade Federation has been lobbied to take on an expanding contracted defense role. They were key in the rescue of Agara Prime, yes? Mercenaries like the Guavian Death Gang and Omek Shadow are in high demand – with growing numbers. There's even talk among the Neimoidians and Muuns of rearming."

Ayvan, Lyssa, and Em remained silent as they hung on Cain's words.

"There's something very big on the horizon. I sense it. And you can probably feel it." Cain noted grimly. "The Vorn, I believe, stand ready to try and seize the galaxy. And if they are unable to there will still remain dozens of systems ready to fight for whatever remains."

Obi-wan sat at the computer terminal in Syrik's hidden command chamber. The young Jedi sat reclined into the tall black leather chair, lazily watching over the decryption protocol Nash had set up on Syrik's main computer bank. There was a faint beep every eight or so seconds from somewhere in the computer. Obi-wan looked up at the terminal readout; it read 78% completion.

Obi-wan then looked at his lightsaber handle he had propped up on the workstation's metal assembly where it angled up from the control surfaces to the monitor system. He had propped it up there rather than keep it on his belt as a precaution. He figured it would be easier to grab from a seated position.

Obi-wan was bored but he kept his senses sharp. They were in Darth Syrik's lair and knew Syrik had survived the encounter with him on Clenestine. Obi-wan knew Syrik had returned to his home for medical attention to his significant wounds. Obi-wan drifted to the thought of the fight with Syrik at the spaceport on Nevar Khyn. The elevated platform. The hellish smoke rising around them. The battle raging between New Republic soldiers and battledroids below. It was all still too clear.

A black shadow form descended from a vent in the ceiling, masterful in its ability to remain silent. A thin black droid that moved like a humanoid, perfectly graceful, lowered behind Obi-wan. It placed its black padded robotic three-toed foot on the expanded metal deck, holding a lightsaber handle in both of its hand – cocked into its right side as it prepared to swing on Obi-wan from behind his chair.

The drone's red blade shrieked to life, arcing in a swing through the back of Obi-wan's chair. In a flash of movement, Obi-wan jumped forward out of the chair, narrowly escaping the red saber. Obi-wan's saber flew forward through the force, activating its blue blade before piercing into the chest of the Sith drone.

Obi-wan stood upright and turned to face his attacker. The drone remained still for a moment with the humming blue blade lanced through its upper body. It staggered forward. Obi-wan extended his right hand, calling his saber back into his grasp. Another drone fell from the ceiling from behind, activating a pair of lightsaber blades. Obi-wan angled away a group of strikes from the second drone, springing away to cut through the first drone to effectively finish it.

The second drone, with what looked like sentient tenacity, spun both of its glowing red blades in its grasp and renewed an attack stance on Obi-wan. Obi-wan leaped in to attack, cracking his blue blade high against the drone's red blade beyond its head, over its right shoulder, low to the left to crack against the other blade, ducked a reverse swing from a red blade, and cracked the blade in the drone's right hand back mid-swing.

A third drone appeared from the medical chamber. Always three – Obi-wan wondered for a brief moment. He angled away another fury of strikes from the second drone, backing away into the secret corridor to get away. The third drone activated a single lightsaber blade, holding it with a two-handed grasp. Its blade arced down through the mainframe computer.

Obi-wan, realizing what was happening, reached out with his left hand towards the computer. The disk Nash had inserted with his decryption protocol flew out of the console and across the dark chamber and into Obi-wan's grasp. Obi-wan tucked the disk into a pocket inside his vest pocket. This seemed to infuriate the drones who charged him.

They could only attack him one at a time through the hidden passage. Obi-wan stood his ground, deflecting away a downward arc from the first drone, spun away from a swing by the second drone – in the turn bringing his blue saber blade down to chop off the trailing drone's head. The young Jedi found himself locked in combat with the two bladed drone, angling his blue blade swiftly in his defense. The headless drone managed a few swings at Obi-wan, who blocked the red blade away, maneuvering the drones so that the twin blade drone chopped down through the damaged droid, finishing it.

The twin bladed droid renewed its furious attack on Obi-wan, maneuvering him down the short group of stairs into the empty hangar bay. A flat swing by a humming red blade flew past Obi-wan in front of him. He chopped for the drone's narrow black Vader-like head but was blocked high. With a chain of angry swings, the drone pushed Obi-wan further back to the middle of the hangar.

A blaster bolt exploded into the side of the Sith drone's head, staggering it. The drone turned towards the source of the fire. More blaster bolts exploded into its body, exploded away an armored plate at its shoulder, then a final blast through its chest.

Obi-wan turned to see Nash holding a smoking blaster pistol near the entry of the hangar bay.

"God, these things are annoying." Nash grumbled as Obi-wan shut down his blade while hurrying towards him. "Come on. We've got trouble."

"I think it's time to leave." Obi-wan noted as they hurried down the hall.

"I couldn't agree more. We got to get that datacard from the mainframe."

"I got it in my pocket." Obi-wan explained. "They destroyed the computer before it could finish."

"Well…. maybe there's something on it we can use. The Republic has…."

Nash was interrupted by a scream followed by the sound of blaster fire and the shriek of lightsaber blades. They hurried to the balcony to look over into the atrium to see Grath Horne with his green lightsaber actively fighting a Vorn warrior with an amber blade. Three dead clone troopers were around them, cut down presumably by Grath. Other clone troopers and two more Vorn were rushing into the area from the sides, potentially cutting them off from the path leading back to the _Ward._

Obi-wan activated his blade and rushed the troopers as Nash opened fire on them with his blaster pistol.

Grath put up a noble fight against the Vorn, chopping with his green blade for the Vorn's side only to be blocked, had his green blade batted back by the angry amber blade of the Vorn, and clashed with the Vorn's saber several times between them. The Vorn swung sharply up, cracking Grath's green blade back before cutting through the Togruta Jedi's midsection.

Grath fell. His green blade vanished into its handle as he collapsed.

A primal scream filled the air accompanied by the charged sound of a lightsaber blade activating. Tallion had leaped from the balcony above, his blue lightsaber blade tucked in at his right side as he flew through the air. He landed in front of the Vorn, piercing its chest with a single thrust. A following arc from Tallion's blue saber cut down diagonally through the Vorn, finishing it.

Nash struck down a clone trooper with a blaster bolt before ducking behind a pillar for cover. They were trapped and overwhelmed – but Nash and Ayvan had planned for such a scenario. Nash pulled out a pair of tinted glasses from his belt and put them on. He depressed a code into a cluster of buttons on his glove.

In the distance on the landing pad, the _Ward's _main turbolaser began to move remotely, turning towards the largest concentration of troopers in the open atrium.

Obi-wan deflected a pair of blaster rounds. He cut through a nearby clone trooper, shoving three more back with the force. One of the other Vorn brought its amber blade down on Obi-wan. Obi-wan's blue blade stopped the Vorn's, sizzling with energy as he held the saber from his face.

Tallion angled away the third Vorn's blade, trading several strikes with the demonic warrior. Tallion cut hard to the right, tagging the Vorn on the shoulder. The Vorn angrily threw back Tallion into a crowd of clone troopers, who eagerly pounced on him.

Nash took aim with his blaster pistol on the Vorn that had hurled Tallion away, firing three times. Each bolt was batted away by the Vorn. With his left hand, Nash pulled a second gun from a holster at his back. It resembled a blaster, but it was a small two-shot grenade launcher. He took aim on the Vorn and pulled the trigger. The Vorn tried to deflect the round only to have it explode violently in front of him. The Vorn was staggered but remained standing. The second grenade exploded into the Vorn's chest, finishing it.

Obi-wan renewed his attack on the last Vorn. Tallion desperately chopped back at the oncoming clone troopers.

Nash used the heads-up targeting system on his red tinted glasses. A small screen inside the lenses gave Nash a view from the _Ward's _main cannon targeting sensors. Using the control glove, he turned the turbolaser on the ship remotely and opened fire.

Red turbolaser bolts screamed into a group of clone troopers, exploding three away in a fiery wrath. Then another bolt and another blasted away their ranks. Tallion broke free of the troopers he was fighting, realizing what was happening. Nash saw his opportunity to run, leaving the turbolaser to fire autonomously to cover his escape.

Obi-wan traded a few more swings with the Vorn. The demon sneered angrily from behind his blade. Obi-wan cut for his head again but was blocked. A group of turbolaser blasts separated them.

Obi-wan ran, leaping over a clone trooper and using its back as a springboard to escape. The Vorn moved to chase but was stopped by more turbolaser rounds exploding around him.

Tallion looked back over his shoulder, glancing at the dead body of his master. They wouldn't be able to retrieve him. Tallion reached out with the force as he ran, grabbing Grath's lightsaber with the force. Its green blade shrieked to life, cutting through a few chasing clone troopers behind Tallion before being caught in his grasp. Tallion deactivated the green blade, hooking the handle on his own belt while holding his own lightsaber handle in his grasp.

"We need to hurry!" Nash shouted as they raced down the long cement pier towards the waiting _Ward_, which continued firing on the pursuing clone troopers.

The sound of screaming eninges grew in the sky. Thrusters from enemy fighters. Several black Raptor fighters swooped down from the sky, moving to attack the _Ward_ and cut off their escape. Nash remotely targeted the fighters, turning the _Ward's _turbolasers up to fire into the sky. The targeting system wasn't sophisticated enough to destroy any of the Raptors but it broke up their attack formation long enough for Tallion to reach the rear ramp of the _Ward_. The Vurk Jedi raced inside the ship, hurrying into the cockpit to fire up the engines. Obi-wan and Nash were just behind, with Nash firing back with his blaster pistol at their pursuers.

Nash struck down one more clone trooper as return fire blazed around him, one bold impacting the underside of the _Ward_. With the repulsors and main engines roaring to life, Nash felt the gravitational force on the _Ward _diminish. He raced up the rear ramp, closing it behind him as the _Ward _hovered up from the landing pad. The vessel turned and nosed up, shooting forward into the blue sky above.

The Raptors turned to pursue. Their green turbolser rounds flashed around the _Ward _as it banked and swayed to evade. Nash hurried up into the gun well, assuming manual control over the turbolasers to fire back at the chasing black fighters. Obi-wan fired the chase mortars. The Raptors evaded the explosive countermeasures. One was struck by Nash's turbolaser fire as it emerged from a smoke cloud.

Tallion throttled the _Ward_ up, rocketing out into open space and finally activating the hyperdrive.

Nash saw the star lines streak away behind them. He let a deep breath out knowing they finally escaped.

Ayvan carried a small supply container up the _Oberon's _rear ramp. He and Lyssa were preparing to leave Corinth after coming up with but a few leads on the cloning facility. Their meeting with Cain Alistair had seemed informative but in the end it wasn't their objective to meet with him. Still, it offered a few more leads. The wreckage from both Death Stars around Yavin IV and Endor were secured since the end of the Great War, even during the time of the First Order. Much of the material had been salvaged, but security droids maintained patrols of those wreckage fields with several small stations set around the wreckage site to monitor and control who goes in and who comes out – and what comes out. It's possible the sensor records might have shown someone recovering the kyber crystals from the main weapon of both Death Stars. If the recovery had been recent that is. Ayvan wondered to himself how long records at both sites were kept. Might the Vorn have been preparing as far back as a hundred years – or more? It seemed likely given the number and size of their warships and military. The Vorn could build up starships and fighters over time without people noticing if they did it right. The only resource that beings in the galaxy would easily notice is the conscription of people into a military force. And the Vorn were using clones and battle droids, leaving no missing beings to go unnoticed.

Lyssa was up front in the cockpit making adjustments to the navigation computer. Em emerged from the corridor leading to the cockpit to walk on his whining servos into the lounge area where Ayvan was working.

There was a beep from the com system. Ayvan walked over to a nearby terminal and depressed the answer key.

An image of Obi-wan flickered into resolution in the middle of the lounge. Standing full scale, he looked at Ayvan with a troubled expression. Ayvan knew immediately something was wrong.

"Obi-wan?" Ayvan asked in reaction to the sight of his young friend.

"We were on Scarif." Obi-wan began somberly. "Investigating Darth Syrik's home." Obi-wan paused. "We found Syrik's' mainframe computer hidden in his home, but we were attacked. The Vorn, Sith Drones, and clone troopers…. Grath Horne is dead."

Lyssa gasped at the news, having just entered the lounge area.

"Nash and I survived, as did Tallion Vereze. He's here with us now on the _Ward._" Obi-wan explained.

"Where are you now?" Ayvan asked.

"We jumped away. Not far from Scarif in open space." Obi-wan answered.

"How did such a large force get on Scarif unnoticed?" Lyssa shook her head.

"I don't know. Maybe some kind of jamming device at Syrik's estate." Obi-wan guess.

Nash Cornio's image walked into the holographic projection. "Maybe they were on Scarif the whole time. It's a big planet with not that many inhabitants."

"Who knows?" Obi-wan replied. "It doesn't matter. Grath is dead. We managed to extract some information from Syrik's command center, but it's encrypted. And we didn't get all of it."

"Sir," Em spoke up. "If I may, I have a number of expansive decryption protocols built into my systems. I might be able to decrypt the information they obtained. And we're not far from Scarif."

Nash's eyes seemed to narrow a bit. "Perhaps it would be better if we took this information to the New Republic Military. I know my people have the equipment to recover whatever we've got."

"I think you should bring the information to us and let Em look at it." Ayvan replied plainly. "Syrik is a Jedi issue. And you're a representative of the Republic Military. I think that's fair, yes?"

Nash gave the reply a few seconds thought and nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"Besides, there's safety in numbers." Ayvan noted. "The Vorn have been attacking Jedi across the galaxy, even trying to kill Lady Skywalker in the Dune Sea."

"Understood. We'll head your way." Obi-wan noted.

"No, I think we'll meet up with you." Ayvan noted. "We'll get underway now and sent you rendezvous coordinates."

"Is Tallion there?" Lyssa asked. "How is he?"

"I'm here." The Vurk Jedi appeared in the hologram projection. He looked as worn and tired as Nash and Obi-wan.

"How are you holding up?" Lyssa asked.

"As well as I can I suppose." Tallion replied.

"I'm sorry about your Master, Tallion." Ayvan noted. "We all are."

"Grath was great with a lightsaber." Tallion shook his head slightly. "And the Vorn bested him. I fought one myself. They're…. powerful. I'm amazed we escaped as it is."

"We'll get to you as quickly as we can." Ayvan noted. "We'll tend to the Vorn and get justice for Grath."

"Yes Master." Obi-wan nodded. "We're on our way."

The image of Obi-wan, Nash, and Tallion flickered and vanished as the transmission ended.

Lyssa and Ayvan looked at each other with a shared concerned reaction.

"We should contact home." Lyssa noted. "Let them know what happened."

Ayvan nodded. "Yes."

A few moments later, Lyssa was maneuvering the _Oberon_ up from the pad and turning it upwards to soar up into the darkening evening sky over Endavar.

D'Qar. There had been a vague report of a disturbance near the old Resistance base. The ruins of the base had been off limits for some time. The remains of the base were really a network of tunnels weaving through several massive orbital bombardment craters. The First Order had destroyed the base from above long ago, leaving an unsafe network of partially collapsed tunnels and a few blasted apart hangar bays. Still, it had become a place for curiosity seekers, many of whom toured the few remaining safe areas outside the security perimeter.

A small town had grown a few miles from the old base. The planet was ripe for farming and trade. The colonists there were eager to feed a galaxy hungry for both food and other creature comforts like furniture, fuel, and minerals. Incom had set up a development complex nearby where they were testing, and hoped to produce, a new line of airspeeder. Not far off, several massive vertical tower farms stood, which grew a variety of fruits and vegetables that could be easily harvested and transported off-world via the farm's own freight spaceport.

Two figures in dark clothing walked towards the strewn remains of a landspeeder wreck. Two speeders at the front of the wreck had been blasted apart on the asphalt road. Three more behind the destroyed speeders showed significant signs of blaster damage and scoring but remained somewhat intact. Local police were already on-site; three officers in total wearing blue jumpsuits and blaster holsters. A police airspeeder had landed at the side of the road with another hovering in to descend.

The dark clothed pair of humanoids had driven up slowly in their own speeder from behind, slowing to a stop well behind the scene of the accident. Most of the other landspeeder traffic had been diverted away.

The male humanoid, in a grey long coat and with dark brownish black hair, walked with a female humanoid dressed in a similar fashion. She wore a short dark blue jacket, grey slacks, tall brown leather boots, and had short black hair.

One of the D'Qar police noticed the duo approaching the accident and hurried to meet them.

"I'm sorry. You can't come in here. This is a crime scene." The police officer tried to halt them with a raised hand.

The male humanoid raised his right hand gently. "It's okay. We belong here."

"We're here to help." The female gestured gently to another officer.

"It's okay. Let them through." The second officer, who was in command, yielded to the mind trick, waving the Jedi through.

Influenced via the force, the police pretty much left the Jedi duo alone. The pair of Jedi had full access to the wreck, moving silently like ghosts through the destroyed and smoldering speeders. They both looked around cautiously as the police continued working around them, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

Bodies of several beings were set within the wreck, both in the burning speeders and laying dead on the ground. A blaster pistol lay smoking on the ground where it had fallen from a dead Berada's grasp. A humanoid female sat up propped against the side of a destroyed speeder, with blaster holes smoking in her body and the vehicle.

The most curious aspect was a charred line cut through the driver side front quarter panel of one of the speeder, which the male Jedi held his hand over briefly.

"Here's another." The female said, observing a similar cut in the side of another vehicle.

The male Jedi turned slowly, seeing a lightsaber cut in the chest of the Berada. Then he saw the severed arm of a humanoid a few feet away.

"The Vorn. They were here." The male observed grimly. "And so were the Jedi."

"Rykane Jedi?" the female asked.

"Yes." The male confirmed.

"Then where are the bodies? And their lightsabers?" the female Jedi asked as she looked around the smoldering ambush site.

The male shut his eyes, quietly reaching out with the force.

The uniformed police went about their business as though the Jedi weren't there.

"They were taken that way." The male Jedi pointed to an area in the grassy plain not too far away.

The pair of Jedi walked in the direction the male Jedi had pointed. Examining the ground as they walked, they could see some hints of the Vorn's large three-toed clawed footprints. They were indeed like large versions of Yoda's feet. And there were drops of blood at a few points on the path. The Jedi stopped in their tracks, sensing where the path ended.

"They were probably loaded onto a transport and taken away." The male said.

"Alive?" the female Jedi asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Why would they take away their dead bodies?" the female asked.

The male Jedi looked over his shoulder, looking back at the wrecked speeders and the police examining the crime scene.

"Because they didn't want their bodies to be found." The male said. "We have to leave. Now."

The male Jedi led the way back to their speeder, parked some distance beyond the crime scene. Another police airspeeder van descended from the sky to land nearby. Still no one paid attention to the Jedi as they left. The duo simply boarder their landspeeder without anyone stopping them. The female took the driver seat. With them both seated the landspeeder, the vehicle turned around and raced back town the paved road away from the wreck.

"The Vorn are up to something big." The male Jedi noted. "And whatever it is it's happening soon."

"Yes Master." The female agreed. "I can feel it."

Cain Alistair sat at his desk. The lights of his wealthy district of Endavar began to glow brighter amidst a darkening evening sky. With the relics and historic décor of his study around him, Cain worked at his aged wood desk, focused on the computer terminal in front of him.

A door slid open to his right, allowing Khyrus' robed and plated form to seemingly float into the study.

"Sorry for the interruption, sir, but this came in on one of the encrypted systems." Khyrus extended a datapad to his employer. "It's urgent."

Cain took the datapad and studied the information on its display screen. His aged blue eyes turned up immediately to Khyrus. "Are the Jedi still here?"

"They just left sir." Khyrus answered.

"We must open a line to them now." Cain said urgently. He set the pad down and tapped in a hurried series of commands into his computer interface.

The main holoprojector attempted to activate but, after a few visible static lines flickered in the air, it reset to standby.

"That's not right." Cain noted, pounding the series of commands into the interface again.

Again, the same result.

Khyrus walked over to a nearby terminal in a study alcove, tapping a series of commands into that computer. He looked down at the screen to check the results.

"Interference between us and where we, well… presume, the Jedi to be." Khyrus noted.

Cain entered more commands into his computer console. Again, no results.

"It's not just Ezen and Anota. It's between us and Bestine too." Cain noted with a hint of panic. "Get the _Khopesh_ ready. We need to leave – NOW!"

"Yes sir." Khyrus walked away to carry out Cain's instructions.

A few minutes later, Cain and Khyrus lifted off in their modified YT-2400; their _Outrider_ copy.

And like the transport it was modeled after, the _Khopesh_ raced into the night sky at ferocious speed, blasting into hyperspace not long after exiting Corinth's atmosphere.

The _Oberon_ emerged from hyperspace. The rendezvous coordinates had been purposely chosen to be out of the way. As Lyssa Anota steered her ship up and to the left, the _Ward_ came into view, growing from a green and grey spec in the star-filled black of space to the large fork-shaped light freighter Ayvan recognized as his own. The _Oberon_ banked gently as it came up along side the cruising _Ward_. Ayvan looked out at his ship through the _Oberon's_ segmented canopy, seeing a few blast marks on its underside and flanks.

"_Oberon._ Good to see you." Nash's voice came in over the com.

Lyssa, Ayvan, and Em could see Nash and Obi-wan in the cockpit of the _Ward _as it flew next to them.

There was a crackling over the com line inside the _Oberon's_ cockpit, followed by a hail signal. Avyan looked curiously at Lyssa before answering the call.

"_Oberon._" Cain Alistair's voice called. "This is Cain Alistair on the _Khopesh._ Do you read me?"

Ayvan hit the send-receive setting to answer. "This is the _Oberon_. We read you _Khopesh._"

"Master Jedi." Cain's voice noted sharply. "I've come upon some urgent information after your departure from Corinth. Some force is jamming communications from Corinth to surrounding systems and your craft, so I departed the planet to transmit this. A few mining ships operating near Vandor noted the energy signature of several large vessels leaving that planet. Their point of departure is one of the areas I've noted on that data I gave you as a possible cloning facility."

Nash looked at Obi-wan, who sat next to him in the copilot seat. "Vandor isn't far from here." Nash spoke, loud enough so the com system could pick him up too.

"It's certainly worth a look." Ayvan added.

"The size of the ships is what concerns me, Jedi." Cain replied. "Four capital-sized vessels – appearing out of nowhere. And Vandor is a sparsely populated world. This could be a precursor to something larger."

Lyssa looked over at Ayvan. "The Empire and First Order maintained facilities on Vandor. It's possible."

"What if it's hopping with clone troopers like the ones we just faced?" Nash replied. "We should call in the New Republic on this."

"What if it isn't, though?" Obi-wan asked.

"We should still call it in." Ayvan stated. "Considering what happened at Clenestine and Agara Prime we'd be irresponsible not to. But tell them it's just a lead and that we're reconnoitering."

"You think the Republic will come in with guns blazing?" Obi-wan asked Nash.

"I'm not sure." Nash smirked. "I'm not sure what priorities are these days."

"They might at least send a security detachment." Tallion stated.

"Most likely, but we can't wait." Ayvan noted. "If something happened there recently we should go have a look."

"I would strongly caution against going into what might be a sector with a significantly larger hostile force, Master Jedi." Cain stated. "I don't know what's there, and I don't think you do either."

Ayvan turned his red eyes to look at Lyssa, silently asking for her input.

"I agree with Ayvan." She said. "We can take a look. There's a few of us but we can be stealthy."

"Nash. Can you call it in?" Ayvan asked over the com.

"Sure thing." Nash seemed to reply with a hint of reluctance.

"Set course for Vandor." Ayvan ordered. "Once Nash completes his transmission to the Republic we make the jump to hyperspace."

Lyssa fired up the nav computer, initiating a light speed trajectory to Vandor. Oni-wan did the same on the _Ward_ as Nash set up his communication line to the Republic Fleet.

Not long after, the _Ward_ and the _Oberon_ turned, seemingly in unison, along a bank to aim for their hyperspace vector. Both ships shot forward in a blur if speed, breaking past light speed into the vortex of hyperspace.

It didn't take long for both craft to reach Vandor. The _Ward_ emerged first beyond the cold blue and white rocky planet. The _Oberon_ appeared not long after. Obi-wan went to work at the science station of the _Ward_ as Nash and Tallion flew the ship.

"I'm picking up recent energy spikes in the eighth sector of the north hemisphere. Mostly thermal." Obi-wan noted.

"The Empire used to maintain a sizeable garrison in the region." Ayvan noted from the _Oberon_. "Those readings look like they're from a similar installation. No significant life signs though."

"It would he hard to be sure there's anyone there if they're underground." Nash replied.

"I'm only picking up a few light freighters nearby, both outbound." Lyssa stated.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Obi-wan asked.

"This smells like a trap." Lyssa noted.

"Maybe." Ayvan agreed.

"_Oberon, _you should hang back while Obi-wan and I check it out." Nash said.

"I should go." Tallion stated.

"Believe me, I'm not too eager to go myself, but I am Republic intelligence." Nash said. "And while young Obi-wan is pretty skilled he doesn't look like a Jedi Knight. Maybe we can sneak in and get a quick look."

"Okay." Ayvan said over the com. "We'll keep watch overhead. You two get in and out as quickly as possible."

Nash got up from the pilot seat on the _Ward_, patting Obi-wan on the shoulder as he passed. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Obi-wan answered plainly as he stood to follow.

The _Ward _swooped down over the snowy mountains of Vandor, over a snow-covered plain beyond. Two large recesses were set in the ground ahead on the horizon. They were long and narrow, large enough to let a large freighter to dock below ground. The recesses had large metal doors set over them, but they were left in the open position. There was significant snowfall around the edges of the openings to suggest the doors had been left open a very long time. The facility looked to be abandoned, but energy readings suggested otherwise.

"I'm not seeing any activity." Tallion said from the bridge of the _Ward. _"I've spotted an auxiliary ground access. Setting down nearby."

The _Ward _hovered down on its repulsors, opening its rear ramp without landing to let Obi-wan and Nash off. The two, in long winter jackets, jumped off quickly before the_ Ward _rocketed back up into the sky.

"Remember to keep the channel open." Obi-wan said into his wrist com. "Come get us at the first sign of trouble."

"Copy that." Tallion's voice noted back over the com.

Obi-wan and Nash looked at the snowy field around them, then at the metal structure ahead, which was the side frame of the massive exterior doors. A few meters up, they found a metal framed stairway leading to a pressure door. The metal structure still seemed sound as their boots clanked against its surface. At the top of the steps was a blast door. Next to it was a numerical keypad.

"Great." Nash grumbled at the sight of the lock.

Obi-wan shut his eyes for a moment in focus. "It's not magnetic." He said, waving his hand slowly from left to right at the door. A heavy clank behind the metal door preceded it opening.

"That's handy." Nash said, pulling out his blaster pistol from his holster.

"Allow me." Obi-wan said, retrieving his lightsaber handle from his belt before entering the dark open doorway.

Obi-wan held his lightsaber handle at the ready as he entered. Nash pivoted in, aiming his blaster ahead of him yet still away from Obi-wan's back. The long corridor within, floored with expanded metal plating, led deep into the installation.

"This looks inviting." Nash said in a low tone to Obi-wan. "Going to be hard to remain quiet on this decking." Nash became aware of each of his footsteps.

"Just be as quiet as you can. I'll keep alert for any signs of life." Obi-wan replied, leading the way down the dimly lit corridor. "Their reserve power is on so there was probably some recent activity here."

"Might be an old subsystem that activates when people enter." Nash stated.

Obi-wan looked over his shoulder and smirked at Nash. "In which case they know we're here already."

"Fantastic!" Nash grumbled.

The two walked further down the corridor, which eventually led down into an open staging area. There was no signs of life yet, but both paused at the sight of one of the power armored shock troops they had seen on Agara Prime. The mech suit was empty with parts removed; possibly for maintenance.

"Relax, no one's here." Obi-wan reassured Nash.

"I remember seeing designs for Zero Gravity Assault troopers in the past." Nash noted. "Those things remind me of them. They were meant to attack the outside of ships in space."

"Makes sense to adapt them to ground warfare." Obi-wan replied.

Further in they discovered what they had been looking for. There were many rows of container frames set in storage, each metal frame with several cylindrical cloning tanks. All the tanks were empty, but they looked to be set up for shipment somewhere else.

Obi-wan raised his wrist com to his mouth. "We found them. Hundreds of cloning tanks. Maybe thousands. Ready to move offworld looks like." Obi-wan scanned one of the tanks with his wrist com, which transmitted the information to the _Ward _and the _Oberon._"

"Getting your data now." Ayvan noted.

"Looks like full-growth tanks." Lyssa said.

"Sure. Whoever's ordering these just wants cannon fodder." Nash stated. "They don't want real thinking soldiers."

Obi-wan and Nash continued down the many rows of empty clone tanks. "Stay close." Nash urged Obi-wan silently.

"These are just tanks. I wonder where the cloning facility is?" Obi-wan asked.

"I wonder where all the clones are." Nash added. "Where are they going?"

As Obi-wan passed one of the tanks, he paused. Something about the tank struck him as odd even though it looked the same as all the others. He placed his left palm on the tank and shut his eyes to focus.

"No, it can't be." He said quietly to himself.

"What is it?" Nash asked.

"I just… this tank. I felt something through the force with it. An imprint." Obi-wan explained.

"What do you mean?" Nash pressed.

"It's like… whatever was in this tank was attuned to the force." Obi-wan replied.

"You think they're cloning Jedi? Or Sith?" Nash Asked.

"That's not possible." Lyssa stated. "Force sensitives can't be cloned. Not their powers anyway."

"Legend has it it's been done before. On more than one occasion." Ayvan replied.

Obi-wan's eyes widened as he felt another presence. A living presence.

"Nash, I think you should get back to the surface." Obi-wan stated rather grimly.

"What? What is it?" Nash asked, swinging his blaster around in expectation of attack.

"I sense something, but you can't help me here. Go back to the surface." Obi-wan added.

"What is it Obi-wan?" Ayvan asked with deep concern.

"He's here." Obi-wan said, walking alone out into a darkened part of the underground facility.

"Wait! Obi-wan!" Nash shouted after him to no avail.

Obi-wan Shai continued walking forward, his deactivated lightsaber blade in his right hand. Ahead of him stood a figure shrouded in shadow and darkness. The figure had a long black cape and black Sith-like armor. A black plated helmet was set on the being's head, with segmented plate covering the front of the face and sides closely. A black visor covered the eyes. Wing-like black plates were set at the sides of the helmet, like small reflective black wings. A red line ran down the face of the helmet asymmetrically. Other red lines ran through the trim of the dark being's black armor.

"We've been searching for you." Obi-wan sad aloud to the dark form.

The being didn't answer.

"I'm not sure if that's really you in there, Syrik." Obi-wan added aloud. "Yield, and let's discuss this as rational beings."

"There are no rational beings, Obi-wan." Syrik replied in the filtered mechanism of his helmet.

"Where are the rest of your forces? All of these clones?" Obi-wan asked.

"Preparing for war." Syrik answered. "I remained here knowing you would come."

Syrik activated his red lightsaber blade and leapt towards Obi-wan. Obi-wan activated his blade in the last moment and angled it upward to block the hard, downward chop of the red blade. Obi-wan angled his blade hard right to block, chopped down for Syrik's head, angled away a return strike from the red blade, then stepped back from a flat swing.

Obi-wan took the offensive, sending a hard, flat swing for Syrik's right side. Syrik blocked, trading several more energized strikes with Obi-wan's blue blade. Obi-wan could sense that Syrik's attack was the same as before, but something was amiss. He had to focus, leaping in a butterfly kick over a swing by Syrik's blade, landing to lash out at him with his blue blade.

Their fierce duel continued, with Obi-wan kicking Syrik back.

"Obi-wan! Get out of there! He's delaying you!" Ayvan's voice came over the com.

Obi-wan pointed his humming blue lightsaber blade at Syrik. He wanted to continue fighting him but felt Ayvan was right. Something was wrong. It felt like a trap. Obi-wan backed away, but Syrik charged.

A blaster round screamed out, striking Syrik on the shoulder. The Sith spun back from the impact but seemed to absorb most of the blast. Nash fired more blaster rounds at Syrik. The Sith deflected the blaster rounds away, enabling Obi-wan to escape. Obi-wan reached out with the force and toppled a rack of cloning tanks between him and Syrik.

Once clear, Obi-wan and Nash ran in a sprint towards where they imagined the main exit doors were located. They didn't bother with the access tunnel they entered through. Instead, they ran towards the visible daylight of the massive cargo ship doors. The sprint up the capital ship access ramps was long and left them exposed, but they wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

"We've got unidentified craft inbound." Ayvan noted over the com.

"I'm on my way in." Tallion added.

The _Ward _swooped down at the top of the capital ship ramp as Obi-wan and Nash reached the top. Wind and a bit of snow whipped past the two as the _Ward_ hovered on its repulsors, swinging around to allow them to enter on its rear boarding ramp. Obi-wan and Nash were barely inside and had just shut the ramp door when several black Raptor fighters dove at them from the sky. Green turbolaser rounds from the Raptors showered around the _Ward_, striking it once on its top shield. The _Ward _rocketed away as the _Oberon_ flew down to attack the chasing Raptors. _Oberon's _cannons destroyed one of the black Raptor fighters, scattering the rest.

The _Oberon _and the _Ward _shot up into the cloudy daytime sky over Vandor. The black Raptor fighters regrouped, giving chase to the two Jedi ships. They resumed turbolaser fire on the escaping ships. The _Ward _and _Oberon_ evaded as best they could, but the green turbolaser fire from the pursuing fighters seemed too intense to escape forever – and there seemed to be more Raptors joining the chase.

Another scream from a large main engine filled the sky. Two of the Raptors exploded from turbolaser fire, then a third.

The _Khopesh_, piloted by Cain Alistair, arced in behind the Raptor's. Khyrus was in the main gun turret firing after the Raptors pursuing the _Oberon_ and _Ward. _The _Khopesh's_ main cannon destroyed two more Raptors before all three transports shot out of Vandor's atmosphere and into open space.

"Thank you, _Khopesh_!" Ayvan said from the pilot seat of the _Oberon _into the com.

"We have bigger problems than this, Master Jedi." Cain replied. "I think I know where this clone army is going. They're headed to Bestine!"

Ayvan let out a deep breath as he looked over at Lyssa, who looked equally worried.

"Let's head home." Ayvan said as he began entering in the jump coordinates.

A few moments later, all three vessels shot forward into hyperspace.

Far below on the surface of Vandor, Darth Syrik walked up to the top of the capital ship ramp where Nash and Obi-wan had just been a few moments earlier. He looked around from behind his helmet as the steady wind whipped at his black cape. Syrik raised his left arm, tapping in a series of commands into his wrist computer.

A few moments later, a Raptor fighter descended from the sky, slowing quickly to land in front if him. Its black wings folded up into landing configuration. Its beak-like cockpit section angled slightly down and slid open, revealing that it was empty. Syrik climbed into the empty pilot seat of the fighter. The black glass canopy slid closed over him.

The Raptor floated upwards again, winds spreading for flight. The fighter roared up into the sky, racing to pursue the Jedi.


End file.
